Russia Str!kes Ukrainian Prison, K!lls 17 Inmates, !njures 42 Others

 

Russia Strikes Ukrainian Prison, Kills 17 Inmates, Injures 42 Others

The overnight assault is the latest in a series of brutal strikes that signal Moscow’s unwavering aggression despite international condemnation.

Russia has intensified its military campaign in southeastern Ukraine with a deadly airstrike on a prison facility in Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 17 inmates and injuring 42 others, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

 

The overnight assault is the latest in a series of brutal strikes that signal Moscow’s unwavering aggression despite international condemnation.

 

Quoting Ivan Fedorov, the regional governor, BBC reports that Russian forces launched eight high-explosive aerial glide bombs in the attack, which also damaged nearby residential areas.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice confirmed that four of the bombs directly struck the Bilenke penitentiary, destroying key infrastructure including the dining hall, administrative building, and a quarantine unit.

 

“All the victims were inmates,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that emergency crews were still combing through debris.

 

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, decried the strike as “another war crime,” emphasising the deliberate targeting of non-combatants.

 

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner also condemned the attack, calling it a “gross violation of international humanitarian law,” underscoring that “imprisonment does not strip individuals of their right to life and protection.”

 

Zaporizhzhia, one of the four regions Russia claims to have annexed in 2022, remains largely under Ukrainian control.

 

Yet it has been a frequent target of Russia’s military operations since the start of the full-scale invasion.

 

Meanwhile, US President, Donald Trump, issued a sharp ultimatum to Moscow, giving it “about 10 or 12 days” to agree to a ceasefire or face sweeping economic sanctions.

 

Speaking during a visit to Scotland, Trump said he would likely “announce it probably tonight or tomorrow,” adding, “there’s no reason to wait, if you know what the answer is.”

 

This fresh warning follows an earlier 50-day deadline set by Trump earlier in July, which Russia has so far ignored as it continues its relentless air and missile attacks.

 

Elsewhere, deadly strikes continued late Monday in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

 

A missile hit the industrial city of Kamyanske, killing two people and injuring five others. Separate strikes in the Synelnykivsky district left one dead and several wounded.

 

In a nearby village, a 75-year-old woman was killed and a 68-year-old man seriously injured after a missile struck their home.

 

In a related development, Russian officials noted that Ukraine had launched dozens of drones overnight in the southern Rostov region, killing one person in their car in the town of Salsk and setting fire to a goods train.

 

It was reported that another person was killed in their car in the border region of Belgorod and his wife was wounded.