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Ukraine says Russian strikes on its prison killed 17 inmates, over 80 injured
Despite the chaos, Ukrainian authorities confirmed that the prison’s perimeter remained intact and no inmates escaped.
A Russian airstrike on Monday hit a prison facility in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia, resulting in the death of at least 17 inmates and injuring more than 80, Ukrainian officials said.
At least 42 inmates were hospitalised with serious injuries, while another 40 people, including one staff member, sustained various injuries.
The strike, which targeted the Bilenkivska Correctional Colony, involved four guided aerial bombs and left a trail of destruction. The prison's dining hall was completely damaged, and administrative and quarantine buildings were extensively impacted.
Despite the chaos, Ukrainian authorities confirmed that the prison's perimeter remained intact and no inmates escaped.
Kyiv condemned the attack, saying that targeting civilian infrastructure, such as prisons, is a war crime under international conventions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, condemned the strikes as "another war crime" committed by Russia.
"(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," Yermak said on X.
Russia unilaterally declared early in the war its annexation of parts of Zaporizhzhia and areas in and around three other Ukrainian regions. Kyiv and its Western allies called the move an illegal land grab.
Russia carried out eight strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, hitting a prison, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the military administration.
People were also killed and more wounded in attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to regional government officials.
In a separate attack on Velykomykhaylivska, Monday night, a "75-year-old woman was killed. A 68-year-old man was wounded. A private house was damaged," he posted on Telegram.
In southern Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, the region's acting governor said Tuesday.
"A car was damaged on Ostrovsky Street. Unfortunately, the driver who was in it died," Yuri Slyusar, acting governor of the Rostov region, said in a post on Telegram.
(with AP inputs)
