The aftermath of the attack on a penal colony in the Zaporizhzhia region. Photo: Volodymyr Zelensky / Telegram
At least 16 people were killed and 44 injured in a Russian airstrike on a penal colony in the Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry reported on Tuesday.
In a statement on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 73 Ukrainian cities and villages had come under Russian attack over the past day, with at least 22 people killed and 85 injured across Ukraine.
Zelensky added that the “deliberate” strike on the penal colony came after Washington had made it clear that “Russia must end this war and move to diplomacy”, referring to US President Donald Trump earlier setting a new deadline for Russia to end the war.
Three people were killed and another seven were injured, one of whom was a pregnant woman, as Russia also attacked multiple districts of Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, according to Governor Serhiy Lysak.
The Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian army attacked Ukraine with two Iskander missiles and 37 drones overnight, adding that Ukrainian air defences had shot down 32 of the drones.
“We all want genuine peace — dignified and lasting: Ukraine, all of Europe, the United States, and many decent leaders and countries around the world who support us,” Zelensky said on X. “Everyone needs peace in international relations and predictability in life. Everyone — except Russia.”
Meanwhile, Russian air defence systems shot down 74 Ukrainian drones over a number of the country’s regions overnight, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
The acting governor of southern Russia’s Rostov region, Yury Slyusar, said Ukrainian drones had attacked multiple districts there, killing one civilian in the town of Salsk, where drone wreckage caused a freight train to catch fire and windows were blown out on a passenger train, Russian Railways reported.
A local man was killed and his wife was injured when a drone struck a car in the Belgorod region of southwestern Russia, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, while a woman was injured after a drone struck a house elsewhere in the region, he added.