MELITOPOL, September 30. /TASS/. More than 20 people were killed and 34 were injured when Ukrainian troops shelled a caravan of vehicles with civilians who wanted to flee the Kiev-controlled zone of the Zaporozhye Region, Vladimir Rogov, chair of the We Are Together with Russia movement, said on Friday.
"At the moment, we know that about 23 Zaporozhye residents were killed and 34 were wounded," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
He added that the vehicles were at a car market where a civilian convoy was being formed. "Upon leaving Zaporozhye, a line of cars waiting to pass through to the liberated territory was shelled," he specified.
"This is plainly a classic Anglo-Saxon style false flag with regards to civilian dissidents. <...> This was carried out along the lines of the customary 'they shelled themselves' script followed by accusations against Russia," Rogov wrote.
The public figure called out the shelling of the caravan as an act of revenge by the Kiev-run authorities. "Literally the day before yesterday, to protest the actions of the [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky regime, these people blocked the road demanding that they be allowed to go to the liberated territory. Immediately after this, SBU agents and the police arrived and began making open threats," he wrote.
Earlier, Energodar’s military-civilian administration reported that a column of vehicles wanting to cross over to the liberated zone of the Zaporozhye Region was shelled by Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Zaporozhye. Rogov said it consisted of about 10 cars.