Ukraine accused Russian forces of shooting 24 civilians, 13 of them children, in an attack on a convoy of vehicles near the recently conquered city of Kupiansk on Saturday.
On Friday, Ukrainian troops showed AFP reporters a group of leaded cars and several plainclothes corpses on the outskirts of Kyrylivka, a short distance east of Kupiansk.
Just this Saturday, Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov stated a preliminary death toll of 24, which according to him includes a pregnant woman and 13 children. “The Russians shot civilians at close range,” he said.
In a video shared by official Ukrainian channels, an employee of the Kupiansk Department of Emergency Medical Care confirmed these figures.
According to a statement from the Kharkov district prosecutor’s office, “On September 25, while civilians were trying to evacuate, the next cars were targeted by the Russian army”.
Ukrainian authorities launched an investigation and claimed that Russian forces driven from Kyrylivka last Sunday were behind this blatant massacre.
AFP reporters on Friday counted the bodies of at least 11 civilians in wrecked vehicles, some burned beyond recognition.
Ukrainian troops operating nearby said they found the dead on an exposed road next to a railway line as defeated Russian forces withdrew from the area.
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© Agence France-Press
source: Noticias
