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Strikes overnight on Ukraine kill 22, says Zelenskyy, as Trump sets new Russia deadline Overnight strikes on Ukraine kill 25 as Trump sets Russia new truce deadline
(about 7 hours later)
Direct hit on prison in Bilenke kills 17, officials say, with three killed at hospital in Kaminanske, as Kyiv hopes for action against Moscow Missile attack on prison in frontline region of Zaporizhzhia kills 16 as Kyiv hopes for US action against Moscow
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Russian airstrikes on Ukraine killed 22 people overnight, said the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and injured another 85, a day after Donald Trump said he was setting a new deadline of “10 or 12 days” for Russia to make progress towards ending the war. Russia launched one of its deadliest night assaults on Ukraine for months in the early hours of Tuesday, the day after Donald Trump said he was setting a new deadline of “10 or 12 days” for Russia to make progress towards ending the war or face new sanctions.
The worst death toll was at a prison facility in the town of Bilenke in the frontline region of Zaporizhzhia, which appeared to have taken a direct hit from a guided air bomb. Local authorities said 17 people died and dozens sustained injuries. A hospital in the city of Kamianske in the Dnipropetrovsk region was also hit, killing three people including a 23-year-old pregnant woman, Zelenskyy said. A series of Russian strikes across the country killed at least 25 people, Ukrainian officials said, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman and more than a dozen prison inmates. About 100 people were injured across the country.
The Zaporizhzhia regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, said Russian forces launched eight strikes against the region, with four aerial bombs used against the prison in Bilenke, destroying the facility and damaging nearby houses. Video footage from the aftermath of the attack showed part of the brick prison building had collapsed and broken glass and debris were scattered on the ground. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that he welcomed Trump’s recent harsher rhetoric towards the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and said only tough measures against Moscow could stop the killing.
“It was a deliberate strike, targeted, not accidental. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were hitting civilians in this penal colony. Many people died, another 43 were injured, and among them there are people with very serious injuries,” Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel. “Every murder of our people by the Russians, every Russian strike, when there could have been a ceasefire long ago if Russia had not refused – all this shows that Moscow deserves very tough, truly painful, and therefore fair and effective sanctions pressure. They must be forced to stop the killings and make peace,” the Ukrainian president wrote on Telegram.
Zelenskyy said only harsh measures against Moscow could stop the killing, and said he welcomed Trump’s recent harsher rhetoric towards the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. During talks on Monday with Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, Trump said he was going to cut a previous 50-day deadline for Putin to “about 10 or 12 days”, citing disappointment with him over a lack of progress.
“Every murder of our people by the Russians, every Russian strike, when there could have been a ceasefire long ago if Russia had not refused – all this shows that Moscow deserves very tough, truly painful, and therefore fair and effective sanctions pressure. They must be forced to stop the killings and make peace,” Zelenskyy wrote. “We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever. You have bodies lying all over the street, and I say that’s not the way to do it. So we’ll see what happens with that,” Trump said.
On Monday, during talks with Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, Trump said he was going to cut a previous 50-day deadline for Putin to “about 10 or 12 days”, citing “disappointment” with the Russian president over a lack of progress. Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, denied on Tuesday that Russia was targeting civilian facilities and said the Kremlin was “committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests”.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for the third round of direct talks in Istanbul last week, but aside from agreeing a prisoner swap they appeared to make little progress and the meeting broke up after less than an hour.
Analysts say Putin has not been prepared to abandon his maximalist war aims, and believes he can wait out the west, particularly as the Trump administration has made it clear that supporting Ukraine is not a top foreign policy priority.
There is hope in Kyiv that Trump’s tougher words this week might be followed up with concrete action, including a new package of sanctions on Russia and continued military and intelligence support for Ukraine.
As Russia’s nightly assaults on Ukraine with missiles and drones continued, the worst death toll on Tuesday was at a prison in the town of Bilenke in the frontline region of Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine’s justice ministry said four glide bombs had hit the facility. Police said 16 inmates had been killed and 43 wounded.
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“We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever. You have bodies lying all over the street, and I say that’s not the way to do it. So we’ll see what happens with that,” the US president said. “It was a deliberate strike, targeted, not accidental,” Zelenskyy said. “The Russians could not have been unaware that they were hitting civilians in this penal colony. Many people died, another 43 were injured, and among them there are people with very serious injuries.”
In Kyiv, there is hope that the new tough words from Trump could be followed up with concrete action, including tougher sanctions on Russia and continued military and intelligence support for Ukraine. The UN’s human rights monitoring Mission in Ukraine said the strike could have been a serious violation. “Prisoners are civilians, and they must be protected under international humanitarian law,” said the head of the mission, Danielle Bell.
A hospital in the city of Kamianske in Dnipropetrovsk region was also hit, killing three people including a 23-year-old pregnant woman, Zelenskyy said. Local authorities in a village near Kamianske named the woman as Diana Koshyk, and said she was seven months pregnant and had been admitted to a maternity ward after complications with her pregnancy.