• More than 20 people killed, including children, in an attack on a civilian convoy near Zaporizhzhia.
• It was one of the most deadly attacks of Russia’s war on its neighbor.
• The strikes were condemned by Ukrainian officials as a Russian war crime.

Overnight, a series of strikes on a civilian convoy in southern Ukraine killed more than 20 people, including children, in one of Russia’s most lethal attacks on its neighbour.

The strikes near Zaporizhzhia, which occurred as Russian missiles, drones, and rockets pounded the country, were quickly condemned as a Russian war crime by Ukrainian officials. They also arrived as the Kremlin prepared to formally annex the region as well as three other parts of the country under its military control.

The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement, but the Russian government has yet to respond to the incident. The attack was blamed on Ukrainian armed forces, according to the head of the region’s pro-Moscow governing council.

The prosecutor general’s office in Ukraine said on the Telegram messaging app Friday that about 50 people were also injured in the attack on what it called a “humanitarian convoy,” adding that a criminal investigation had been launched.

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“These people were going to their relatives in the occupied territories, [bringing] humanitarian aid,” the governor of the local region, Oleksandr Starukh, said on his Telegram channel.

“They were supposed to transport our fellow citizens to the free part of Ukraine.”

On Telegram, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stated: “The Russians continue to murder Ukrainians and destroy our Zaporizhian homeland. Terror persists.”

He added that four of the 16 anti-aircraft S-300 missiles hit the convoy near Zaporizhzhia, which was made up of civilians travelling to Russian-occupied areas to pick up relatives. The Soviet-era missiles, while designed to hit aircraft, can also be used to hit ground targets.

The incident was described as “horrific news of Russian attacks against civilians” by Bridget Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine.

On Twitter, she stated:

“Amid battlefield losses, Russia continues to target Ukrainian civilians, demonstrating that Ukraine’s fight is not only for freedom and sovereignty, but also for survival.”

Pro-Kremlin officials, on the other hand, claimed that the convoy was targeted by Ukrainian forces.

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