Russian Forces Kill Seven Evacuees Leaving A Village Near Kyiv: Ukraine Military

Russian forces shot at a convoy that was evacuating women and children from the village of Peremoga in the Kyiv region, killing seven people, Ukraine's military intelligence service said on Saturday.

A Ukrainian serviceman exits a damaged building after shelling in Kyiv, on March 12, 2022. | AFP

New Delhi: Russian forces shot at a convoy that was evacuating women and children from the village of Peremoga in the Kyiv region, killing seven people, Ukraine's military intelligence service said on Saturday. The seven people killed included a child, media reports said. 

The military intelligence service is a part of the defence ministry. It initially said that the convoy left in a “green corridor” which had previously been agreed with Russia, news agency Reuters reported. 

However, the military intelligence service said in a statement released on late Saturday that this was not in fact the case and the convoy had left the village independently.

The purported attack occurred on Friday, after which the service had said that the Russian troops forced the remainder of the column back into the village. 

Peremoga means victory in Ukrainian. It is a small village around 36 kilometres or 22 miles from Kyiv’s northeastern suburbs. 

According to a report by news agency AFP, the military intelligence service said that Russian troops forced the group of evacuees to return to their village after the attack, with the number of injured unknown.

"At present, it is almost impossible to establish contact with them, as well as provide humanitarian and medical assistance," the military intelligence said in a statement. 

The military intelligence, however, did not give details of those killed or the time of the attack, and accused Russia of committing a war crime by deliberately targeting innocent civilians, the AFP report stated.