At least 23 people have been killed and 28 others wounded in a Russian missile strike in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional governor says.
The missile came down near a convoy of civilian vehicles close to the sprawling Orekhovo market on the outskirts of the city, leaving a crater in the ground.
An eyewitness saw bodies lying on the ground or still in vehicles.
"So far, 23 dead and 28 wounded. All civilians," regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh wrote on Telegram.
Police and emergency workers rushed to the scene of the strike, the impact of which threw chunks of dirt into the air and sprayed vehicles with shrapnel.
The windows of the vehicles — mostly cars and three vans — were blown out.
The vehicles were packed with occupants' belongings, blankets and suitcases.
Bodies of people and an animal could be seen in cars which had been hit with shrapnel from the blast.
A woman who gave her name as Nataliya said she and her husband had been visiting their children in Zaporizhzhia.
"We were returning to my mother who is 90 years old. We have been spared. It's a miracle," she said, standing with her husband beside their car.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a special military operation, denies deliberately targeting civilians though its attacks have devastated Ukrainian towns and cities.
Reuters
