At least 23 dead after Ukrainian civilians trying to help relatives flee Russia-occupied zones were bombed in their cars, officials say

• Russian missiles hit a Ukrainian convoy of civilians, killing at least 23 people, officials said.
• Ukrainians were going to Russia-controlled territories to help relatives leave, the officials said.

At least 23 people were killed when a convoy of civilian cars that were helping people leave a Russia-occupied city was attacked on Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said.

A Russian missile attack was responsible, Reuters reported.

The governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Oleksandr Starukh, said on Telegram that at least 23 people were dead and 28 are wounded.

"All civilians, our compatriots," he said.

"These people went to their relatives in the occupied territories, brought humanitarian aid. They were supposed to take our fellow citizens and take them to the free part of Ukraine," Starukh wrote.

He said in an earlier statement that "People were standing in line to leave for the occupied territory to pick up their relatives and to deliver aid."

Zaporizhzhia is a Ukraine-controlled city in eastern Ukraine, close to the areas that Russia is occupying.

Starukh shared an image of a blurred-out dead body lying on the road between cars.

Photos from the site show dead and injured people in cars and lying on the road.

A Reuters witness also bodies lying on the ground or unmoving in vehicles.

Ukrainian presidential advisor Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram that four missiles hit the auto market where the cars were gathering.

"There was a column of cars with civilians on their way to the temporarily occupied territory to pick up their relatives," he said.

He added in a later post: "There are only civilian cars around, in which some people died. No military equipment here."

A Russian official blamed Ukraine for the attack, the BBC reported.

Ivan Federov, the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, said in a statement on Telegram that "the enemy attacked a convoy of civilian cars waiting to leave Zaporizhzhia."

He said people go from Zaporizhzhia every day "to support their relatives, deliver vital medicines to the civilian population and return back."

Federov said on Friday morning that it was "is still impossible to even count the number of dead and wounded people."

He said: "Among the victims are Melitopol citizens. We will not forgive."