At least 20 people were killed and 43 injured in a series of Russian strikes across southern and eastern Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian authorities confirmed Tuesday. The deadliest attack targeted a penitentiary in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced as “deliberate and intentional.”

Strike on Prison Triggers Outrage

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice, the attack on the Bilenkivska colony killed 17 and injured 42. President Zelensky said, “This was a deliberate strike. The Russians could not have been unaware they were targeting civilians.” The strike occurred exactly three years after the Olenivka prison bombing in occupied Donetsk, which killed dozens of Ukrainian POWs.

No Russian prisoners were present at the site, and officials confirmed that 274 Ukrainian detainees and 30 staff were inside during the strike.

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, called the incident “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law” and added, “Detainees retain their right to life and protection.”

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched two missiles and 37 drones overnight. While 32 drones were intercepted, five drones and two missiles struck three separate sites.

Additional Attacks Across Regions

Further attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions resulted in more casualties. In Kamyanske, two people were killed, five injured, and a hospital damaged. In Synelnykivskï, a 75-year-old woman was killed in a drone strike, and in Velykomykhaïlivska, more were wounded by bombs. In Kharkiv’s city of Kupiansk, a multiple-rocket attack killed one.

Meanwhile, in Russia’s Rostov region, Ukrainian drones reportedly killed one person and damaged rail infrastructure in Salsk.

The strikes came just a day after U.S. President Donald Trump gave Russia an ultimatum—“10 to 12 days”—to end the war, or face severe new sanctions. “The Putin regime must be hit with economic and military blows to deprive it of the capacity to wage war,” said Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak.