Russian missile strike in Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia leaves 23 dead, 28 wounded

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine – Not less than 23 folks have been killed and 28 wounded in a Russian missile strike that hit a convoy of civilian autos on the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Zaporizhzhia, the regional governor stated.

A Reuters witness noticed our bodies mendacity on the bottom or nonetheless in autos on the metropolis’s sprawling Orekhovo automobile market. A missile had left a crater within the floor close to two traces of autos.

“Thus far, 23 useless and 28 wounded. All civilians,” Oleksandr Starukh, the Zaporizhzhia regional governor, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Police and emergency employees had rushed to the scene of the missile strike, the impression of which threw chunks of dust into the air and sprayed the autos with shrapnel. The home windows of the autos – principally automobiles and three vans – have been blown out.

The autos have been filled with the occupants’ belongings, blankets and suitcases. A physique leaned from the motive force’s seat into the passenger seat of a yellow automobile, his left hand nonetheless clutching the steering wheel.

Plastic sheets have been draped over the our bodies of a lady and younger man in a inexperienced automobile within the subsequent automobile in entrance. A useless cat lay subsequent to the younger man within the rear seat.

Two our bodies lay in a white mini-van in entrance of that automobile, its home windows blown and the edges pitted with shrapnel.

A girl who gave her title as Nataliya stated she and her husband had been visiting their kids in Zaporizhzhia.

“We have been returning to my mom who’s 90 years previous. We have now been spared. It’s a miracle,” she stated, standing together with her husband beside their automobile.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it calls a particular army operation, denies intentionally concentrating on civilians although its assaults have devastated Ukrainian cities and cities.