At least 25 people have been killed across Ukraine in overnight and early morning Russian air strikes that hit a prison and a hospital, local officials say.
They say the deadliest attack was on the Bilenke penitentiary in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where 16 inmates were killed and more than 50 injured.
A separate Russian strike on people queuing for humanitarian aid killed five in the north-eastern Kharkiv region. Three people – including a pregnant woman – were killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. Another casualty was reported elsewhere in the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia “must be forced to stop the killings and make peace” via “tough” sanctions.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, Ukraine’s justice ministry said four glide bombs hit the Bilenke penitentiary shortly before midnight, destroying the dining hall, administrative headquarters and quarantine area.
It said that more than 50 people were injured, and 44 of them had to be taken to hospital.
The ministry had earlier reported 17 inmates were killed but later amended the death toll.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner said attacking a prison was a gross violation of humanitarian law as people in detention did not lose their right to life and protection.
Russian forces have frequently targeted the front-line region of Zaporizhzhia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
It is one of four south-eastern regions in Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed since 2022, although Moscow does not fully control any of them.
In a separate Russian rocket attack on Tuesday morning, five people were killed in the village of Novoplatonivka, Kharkiv region, the local authorities said.
The villagers had gathered near a local shop to get humanitarian aid, regional police chief Petro Tokar told Ukraine’s Suspilne TV channel.
Ukraine’s officials later released photos showing bodies lying near a destroyed shop.
Another Russian rocket strike hit a hospital in Kamianske, Dnipropetrovsk region, killing three people.
A 23-year-old pregnant woman named Diana was among the casualties there, President Zelensky said.
In a statement, he accused Russia of killing Ukrainians when a ceasefire “could have long been in place”.
US President Donald Trump issued a stark ultimatum to Moscow on Monday, warning that Russia had “about 10 or 12 days” to agree a ceasefire or face sweeping sanctions. Speaking during a visit to Scotland, Trump told reporters he would “announce it probably tonight or tomorrow,” adding, “there’s no reason to wait, if you know what the answer is”.
Zelensky praised Trump’s “very important words” and said that Russia was “wasting the world’s time”.
Earlier in July, Trump set a 50-day deadline for the Kremlin to reach a truce with Kyiv or risk economic penalties, but the warning has not halted Russia’s barrage of strikes.
The wave of attacks came as Russia said its troops were pushing deeper into Ukrainian territory.
At the weekend, Moscow said its forces had seized the village of Maliivka, weeks after claiming control over their first village in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has rejected Russia’s claims.
Meanwhile, in Russia, officials said 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.
Another person was reported killed in their car in the border region of Belgorod and his wife was wounded.
