Strikes overnight on Ukraine kill 22, says Zelenskyy, as Trump sets new Russia deadline
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.
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.
'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.
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.
'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.
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.
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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.
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.
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