Russian troops struck a convoy of civilians leaving the outskirts of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region during a so-called evacuation.
The attack was recorded by the Joint Forces Group, which reported it on Facebook.
The military are currently уточнюють the number of casualties. Over the past few weeks, the Russians have organised similar removals of civilians from Kupiansk several times.
Previously, according to the Ukrainian side, the occupiers used civilians as a human shield, using them to cover the withdrawal of their troops. This time, Russian forces struck the civilian convoy directly.
What preceded this?
At the end of September, reconnaissance drones from the 2nd Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine’s “Khartiia” unit recorded how Russian troops were leading civilians out of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region while using them as cover. The video showed nine people, including children, elderly people and a person on crutches. Nearby were men of conscription age in civilian clothes who, according to Ukrainian troops, could have been Russian fighters who had taken off their uniforms.
According to “Khartiia”, the people were led through the village of Holubivka to the Shebelinka–Ostrogozhsk gas pipeline and taken inside the pipe, which the occupiers had previously used to covertly move assault troops into the city. Ukrainian troops did not open fire because civilians were present.