The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has claimed more lives, with at least 22 people, including 16 inmates and a pregnant woman, killed in Russian air attacks on mostly southeastern Ukraine. The attacks, which occurred overnight on Tuesday, targeted several regions, including Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Odesa.
According to Ivan Fedorov, head of the military administration in Zaporizhia, Russia carried out eight overnight air attacks on his region alone, hitting a prison near the city of Zaporizhzhia. “Russia bombed a penal colony near Zaporizhzhia overnight – 16 killed, 35 injured. Civilians continue to suffer. Another blatant war crime,” Fedorov said in English on X.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that a pregnant woman was among three people killed in a Russian missile attack on the city of Kamianske in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, targeting a hospital. Serhiy Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk military administration, also confirmed that a person was killed and several wounded in the Synelnykove district.
In a separate attack on the village of Velyka Mykhailivka in the Odesa region on Monday night, a 75-year-old woman was killed, and a 68-year-old man was wounded, with a private house damaged. Lysak reported this on Telegram.
Reacting to the developments, Andriy Yermak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote on social media: “Russian President [Vladimir] Putin’s regime, which also issues threats against the United States through some of its mouthpieces, must face economic and military blows that strip it of the capacity to wage war.”
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched 37 drones and two missiles overnight, adding that its air defense systems had downed 32 of the drones. In response to these attacks, Russia’s Ministry of Defence reported that its defense units downed a total of 74 drones overnight, including 22 over the Rostov region.
In Russia’s southern Rostov region, multiple Ukrainian drone attacks killed one person, according to Russian authorities. Yury Slyusar, acting governor of the Rostov region, said in a post on Telegram that a car was damaged on Ostrovsky Street, and unfortunately, the driver died. Drone debris also fell on Salsk train station, damaging a freight train and passenger train, with passengers being evacuated.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been ongoing since 2014, with a full-scale Russian invasion launched in February 2022. The war has resulted in a significant humanitarian crisis, with thousands of civilians killed and many more displaced. The international community has condemned Russia’s actions, and Ukraine has been receiving military and humanitarian aid from Western countries.
In recent developments, US President Donald Trump set Russia a new deadline of “10 or 12 days” to reach a peace deal in its war on Ukraine or face tough new sanctions, shortening a 50-day deadline he had set earlier this month. This ultimatum comes amid escalating tensions and violence between the two nations.