Ukraine condemned Moscow on Friday for firing a convoy of civilian automobiles in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, killing at least 23 people on the front lines.
Oleksandr Starukh, the regional governor for Zaporizhzhia, said that 28 persons, “all civilians, locals,” were hurt due to the attacks.
In the Russian-occupied province of Zaporizhzhia, a pro-Kremlin official accused Kiev of the assault while denying that the Russian army was responsible.
Vladimir Rogov said on social media that Kiev’s government was “trying to depict what occurred as shelling by Russian soldiers, resorting to a horrific provocation,” and that Ukrainian forces had committed a “terrorist crime.”
READ MORE: Iran Targets Celebrities and Journalists Over Protests Over a Woman’s Death
Russian soldiers “launched a missile strike on a civilian relief convoy on its way out of the regional center,” according to the governor of Zaporizhzhia.
He said on social media that “people were queuing in line to travel towards the temporarily held zone, to pick up their family, and to carry away assistance.”
Additionally, Governor Starukh shared a picture of two rows of wrecked automobiles with multiple bodies nearby.
Although under Ukrainian control, the industrial powerhouse of Zaporizhzhia, which had a pre-war population of 700,000, is vulnerable to Russian rocket assaults.
Moscow already occupies a portion of the province, and the Kremlin announced intentions to legally annex the area on Friday at a ceremony in Moscow.
Separately, a Moscow-installed official in Kherson, a southern Ukrainian province under Russian influence, was murdered in attacks by Kiev’s troops, local authorities were quoted as saying on Friday by Russia’s state-run news agency.
“Himars struck [Alexei] Katerinichev with a precise blow, killing him. The home where he was struck by two rockets “The deputy governor of the area under Moscow’s authority, Kirill Stremousov, stated this about the weaponry provided by the US.