Seven killed including child after Russian troops fire at evacuation convoy, Ukraine says
Column of civilians consisting exclusively of women and children was travelling along agreed humanitarian corridor in Kyiv region
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Your support makes all the difference.Ukraine has accused Russia of killing seven civilians after firing at a convoy of evacuees in the Kyiv region.
Six women and a child reportedly died while attempting to leave the village of Peremoha along an agreed humanitarian corridor on Friday.
Ukraine’s intelligence service said in a statement on Saturday: “On 11 March, when trying to evacuate from the village of Peremoha (Baryshivskyi district of Kyiv region) towards the village of Ostroluchchia along the agreed ‘green’ corridor, the invaders shelled a column of civilians, which consisted exclusively of women and children.
“The result of this brutal act was seven killed. One of them is a child. The exact number of wounded is still unknown.”
Russia made no immediate comment.
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Ukraine has accused Russia of preventing evacuations from conflict zones by not respecting agreed ceasefires and firing at civilian targets.
Russia has denied targeting civilians since the start of the invasion on 24 February and has blamed Ukraine for repeated stumbles in efforts to evacuate people from the worst-hit areas, including the southern port city of Mariupol.
The Russian bombardment, which Moscow calls a special operation, has trapped thousands of people in besieged cities and sent 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing to neighbouring countries.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier on Saturday that the conflict meant some small Ukrainian towns no longer existed.
Speaking at a news briefing, the leader said about 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed so far as he urged the West to get more involved in peace negotiations.
He said negotiating teams from Kyiv and Moscow had started discussing concrete topics rather than exchanging ultimatums.
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Additional reporting by Reuters
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