Executions of humanitarian columns
The shelling of a humanitarian column in Zaporozhye is a terrorist act of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation aimed at a targeted shelling of a humanitarian column leaving the city of Zaporizhia, which took place on the morning of September 30, 2022. As a result of the shelling, 118 people were injured, of which 32 people died. The shelling took place on the same day that Russia announced the annexation of the occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhya region.
On September 30, 2022, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a missile strike on Zaporizhia, launching 16 missiles of the S-300 ZRK. Four of the missiles at 07:10 hit a humanitarian civilian motorcade in the area of the car market at the exit from the city and the car market itself, located near the highway N08 on the Zaporizhzhya — Orekhov section. There were about 100 civilians in the convoy waiting to leave for the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine to pick up their relatives or transport aid.
The attack initially reported 23 dead and 28 wounded. Most were killed or injured by rocket debris. The number of casualties soon rose to 25 dead and 62 wounded. Later it became known that 26 were killed and 85 wounded. Among the dead are two children. A 5-year-old child was seriously injured.
In the evening of the same day, 30 dead and 88 wounded were reported. As of October 1, the number of victims (along with the dead) reached 118 people. On the same day, a seriously injured woman died in a Zaporizhzhya hospital, and the number of victims reached 31 people: 30 civilians and one police officer who assisted the victims. On October 8, another victim died.
On the same day, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky and the Head of the National Police Igor Klymenko visited the scene of the shelling.
According to the Minister, at seven in the morning, as every day, people gathered in columns in order to go to the temporarily occupied territories to their homes, parents, children. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine put the responsibility for the terrorist attack personally on Vladimir Putin:
“This attack was clearly planned, because it happened on the day when Putin, the main terrorist, was about to announce the annexation of the regions, in particular Zaporizhia. Quite consciously, paving the way for this statement, he has traditionally struck a blow at the civilian population. Yes, this is a response to the success of our troops in the Kharkiv region, near the Liman and not only for us, but also for the whole civilized world. Therefore, this tragedy completely falls on the shoulders of the main terrorist Putin, because there is no doubt where the arrivals came from,” the Minister noted.
The head of the National Police Igor Klymenko wrote on Facebook:
Unfortunately, we also have losses among the police. A 36-year-old employee of the local Office of Strategic Investigations was killed. Another 27 policemen of the Berdyansk regional administration were injured, 4 of them are in serious condition. The boys were on duty, ensuring law order.
Together with Minister Denis Monastyrsky, they visited the wounded police officers in the hospital and thanked them for their service. About 80 specialists continue to work at the scene of the tragedy.
Police investigators and forensics are helping colleagues from the SBU to collect evidence. Police documentation is headed by the Head of the Department for the Organization of Investigation of Crimes Committed During Military Conflicts of the Main Investigative Department of the National Police of Ukraine. Currently, it is known that the Russians hit people with modernized S-300 missiles.
The ruptures from these modified missiles are not as deep, but the blast wave radius is much larger. Accordingly, the larger area and the force of killing people... the
Russian army knew that there were always a lot of people here. Especially in the morning. And purposely aimed at this very place. This is a targeted mass murder, and whatever we say in a country of
murderers, we stand firm on our ground. Temporarily captured territories will be returned. And we will not stop until we punish all war criminals.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke about the shelling of Zaporizhia by Russians:
“The terrorist state is firing rockets at civilians in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv region, Dnipropetrovsk region. Strikes Ukrainian regions with rocket systems of salvo fire and drones. Only in Zaporizhzhia and the region, the occupiers fired 16 rockets in one morning! This can only be done by complete terrorists who should have no place in the civilized world. The enemy is raging and trying to take revenge for our invulnerability and our failures. He cynically destroys peaceful Ukrainians, because he has long lost everything human. Bloodthirsty bastards! You will answer for sure. For every Ukrainian life lost!”
➤ The next day, Russian terrorists fired a machine gun at an evacuation column in Kupyansk district in Kharkiv region. 24 people were killed.
“The column was fired from a machine gun mounted on the BTRI. After that, in order to hide the traces of their crime, the Russians set fire to the remains of these cars,” said Oleg Syenegubov, head of the OVA.
According to him, forensic experts are now conducting tests to identify the dead and establish the causes of their death.
On the same day, the National Police reported. that 24 people died in Kharkiv region as a result of the shooting of a column of civilian cars by Russians. This happened at the end of September on the highway between Kurilovka and Pischane - the occupiers destroyed a column of civilian cars.
According to preliminary data, 24 people were killed, including 13 children, and several people were able to escape. They gave evidence to investigators.
The investigator's information was included in the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations under Part 2 of Art. 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the article provides for 10 to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment.
