At least 23 killed in Russian missile strike in Ukraine

A communal service worker fixes damages after a missile strike in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region on September 29, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP

At least 23 people were killed and 28 wounded in a Russian missile strike that hit a convoy of vehicles carrying civilians near the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional governor said. A Reuters witness saw about 12 bodies, four of them in cars, and said a missile had left a crater in the ground near two lines of vehicles at a car market. "So far, 23 dead and 28 wounded. All civilians," Oleksandr Starukh, the Zaporizhzhia regional governor, wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The impact had thrown chunks of dirt ino the air and sprayed the vehicles with shrapnel. The windows of the vehicles - mostly cars and three vans, were blown out. The vehicles were packed with the occupants’ belongings, blankets and suitcases. A body leaned from the driver's seat into the passenger seat of a yellow car, his left hand still clutching the steering wheel. Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it calls a special military operation, denies deliberately targeting civilians though its attacks have devastated Ukrainian towns and cities.