Ukraine strikes humanitarian convoy – official

Ukrainian combat drones destroyed cars that were part of a humanitarian convoy in the Russian-held southern city of Energodar early on Saturday morning, a local official has asserted.

“The cars had the markings of a humanitarian mission,” Yevgeny Balitsky, the top Russia-appointed official in Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Region, wrote on his Telegram account.

Balitsky said the overnight attack occurred on empty vehicles parked on the street and that there were no casualties. Three residential buildings, a grocery shop, a hotel and a dormitory were damaged, Balitsky said.

Both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of shelling civilian targets.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state.

The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.” 

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.