Russian attack on humanitarian convoy kills 23 in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia

Lviv, Ukraine, Sep 30 (EFE).- A Russian strike on a humanitarian convoy in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region killed 23 people and injured 28 more, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday.

The convoy was heading in the direction of Russian-occupied territories, according to Oleksandr Starukh, the head of Ukraine’s military administration in Zaporizhzhia.

“All civilians, our compatriots,” he added in a Telegram statement cited by Ukrinform, a Ukrainian news agency.

He added that the humanitarian convoy was traveling into Russian-occupied territory in the Zaporizhzhia region to collect relatives and deliver aid.

The attack occurred shortly before Russian president Vladimir Putin was due to sign annexation decrees to absorb Zaporizhzhia, as well as Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson, into the Russian Federation.

The Kremlin’s decision, which follows a series of referendums dismissed by Kyiv and its allies as a “sham,” is a considerable escalation in the conflict. EFE

int-egw/jt/ch