Russia’s terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia: Modernized S-300 missiles used for the first time

On September 30, 2022, Russian troops used modernized S-300 missiles with a wider impact range for the first time, as they struck a humanitarian column, leaving the city of Zaporizhzhia.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Denys Monastyrskyi during a nationwide telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports, referring to the Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry.

Thirty civilians were killed in Russia’s terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia, including two children. Eighty-eight people were injured. One police officer was killed and 27 injured.

“Every time I come to one of such places – Kremenchuk, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia – I constantly ask myself, why Russians are doing this, what does Putin want to achieve? But, now it is absolutely clear to me that his statements are made through blood. Here, they are demonstrating our society and the whole world, what the ‘Russian world’ means,” Monastyrskyi said.

In his words, in that terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia, Russians used the modernized S-300 missiles, exploding immediately as they reach the target, for the first time. The previous version of such missiles exploded as they plunged several meters into the ground, leaving deep craters but causing less damage to the people around.

“At the scene, our explosives experts noted the missile exploded as soon as it touched the ground. This is done to kill as many people as possible,” Monastyrskyi told.

According to Monastyrskyi, there were neither military objects nor military equipment nearby. Every morning civilian cars used to form a humanitarian column in that place to visit relatives remaining in the temporarily occupied areas.

A reminder that, on September 30, 2022, Russian troops fired 16 S-300 missiles at a civilian car convoy, leaving the city of Zaporizhzhia towards the temporarily occupied areas for humanitarian purposes.

mk