Russian glide bombs and ballistic missiles struck a Ukrainian prison and a medical facility overnight as Russia’s relentless strikes on civilian areas killed at least 27 people across the country, officials said yesterday, despite US President Donald Trump’s threat to soon punish Russia with sanctions and tariffs unless it stops.
Four powerful Russian glide bombs hit a prison in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, authorities said.
The bombs killed at least 16 inmates and wounded more than 90 others, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice said.
Photo: Reuters
In the Dnipro region of central Ukraine, authorities said Russian missiles partially destroyed a three-story building and damaged nearby medical facilities, including a maternity hospital and a city hospital ward. At least three people were killed, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman, and two other people were killed elsewhere in the region, regional authorities said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that overnight Russian strikes across the country hit 73 cities, towns and villages.
“These were conscious, deliberate strikes — not accidental,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
Trump on Monday said that he was giving Russian President Vladimir Putin 10 to 12 days to stop the killing in Ukraine after three years of war, moving up a 50-day deadline he had given the Russian leader two weeks ago.
The move meant Trump wants peace efforts to make progress by Thursday to Saturday next week.
Trump has repeatedly rebuked Putin for talking about ending the war, while continuing to bombard Ukrainian civilians.
However, the Kremlin has not changed its tactics.
“I’m disappointed in President Putin,” Trump said during a visit to Scotland.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov yesterday said that Russia is determined to achieve its goals in Ukraine, although he said Moscow has “taken note” of Trump’s announcement and is committed to seeking a peaceful solution.
Zelenskiy welcomed Trump’s shortening of the deadline.
“Everyone needs peace — Ukraine, Europe, the United States and responsible leaders across the globe,” Zelenskiy wrote in a post on Telegram. “Everyone except Russia.”
The Kremlin pushed back, with a top Putin lieutenant warning Trump against “playing the ultimatum game with Russia.”
“Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran,” former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who is deputy head of the Russian Security Council, wrote on X.
“Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country,” Medvedev said.
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