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Russian Drones Deliberately Strike Humanitarian Convoy on Easter in Donetsk Region, Injuring Civilians
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![Amira_barkhush]( "Photo of Amira Barkhush")
Russian forces attacked a humanitarian evacuation vehicle with FPV drones near Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region on the morning of April 20, violating their own declared “Easter truce.”
The vehicle belonged to the “Proliska” humanitarian mission. Several people were injured in the strike.
The Head of the Donetsk branch of Proliska, Yevhen Tkachov, confirmed the incident in a phone call with Suspilne Donbas.
According to the news agency, Tkachov said that at 8 a.m. on Easter Sunday, the mission was evacuating civilians from the village of Zoria in the Illinivka community, including two elderly people and two families, who were traveling in their own cars behind the Proliska vehicle when it came under attack.
🚨 Russian forces attacked a humanitarian evacuation vehicle with FPV drones near Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region on the morning of April 20, violating their own declared “Easter truce.”
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) April 20, 2025
📹: Radio Svoboda pic.twitter.com/IliW1OZrIy
“First, a fragmentation drone struck us, even though we saw and heard it coming. I got out of the car, wearing a light blue vest clearly marked with the emblems of the 'Proliska' humanitarian mission. The vehicle was civilian,” Tkachov said. “Still, the drone hit near the car, disabling it. A few minutes later, another drone arrived, this one armed with an RPG . It circled us two or three times, clearly saw it was a civilian vehicle and that we were unarmed civilians, yet it attacked the people I was evacuating, who were lying on the roadside.”
According to the head of the mission, as he and the evacuees hid from Russian drones in nearby bushes, they witnessed a third drone strike the already-disabled vehicle.
A chaplain later arrived to evacuate the wounded in another car.
“The elderly man suffered a heart attack, the woman had shrapnel wounds to her leg, and I was hit in the leg as well,” Tkachov recalled, adding that the injured were transported to a hospital.
“They were hunting us, do you understand? This wasn’t stray artillery fire. It was a vehicle clearly marked with humanitarian stickers. We were standing next to it in civilian clothing. The drone could’ve seen every pore on my nose. This was a deliberate strike, followed by a final hit on the vehicle. It felt like an execution, like shooting prisoners. A targeted attack, in broad daylight, on Easter, during a declared ceasefire,” Tkachov concluded.
On April 20, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia was attempting to create the impression of a general ceasefire, but in some areas, it continues localized offensives and inflicts losses on Ukrainian forces.
On April 19, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced a temporary ceasefire in the war against Ukraine for the Easter holiday.
-a80eca3386f843ec2c53278e18ae1131.jpg "Rare Footage Shows Ukrainian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Unit Launching Multiple Chaklun-V UAVs at Night, Video")
