Russian Strike kill 22 in Ukraine, Including Inmates and Pregnant Woman

Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1413 EAT on Tuesday 29 July 2025

Russian airstrikes on southeastern Ukraine overnight have killed at least 22 people, including 16 prison inmates and a pregnant woman, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and local officials.

The deadly attacks came just a day after U.S. President Donald Trump tightened his timeline for peace, warning Russia it now has just “10 or 12 days” to reach a deal or face new sanctions—down from the 50-day deadline he had set earlier this month.

Ivan Fedorov, head of the military administration in Zaporizhia, said Russia launched eight airstrikes on the region overnight, including one that hit a prison facility near the city of Zaporizhzhia.

“Russia bombed a penal colony near Zaporizhzhia overnight – 16 killed, 35 injured. Civilians continue to suffer. Another blatant war crime,” Fedorov wrote in English on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the day’s death toll at 22, noting that a pregnant woman was among three people killed in a separate missile strike on the city of Kamianske, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. The attack reportedly targeted a hospital.

Also in the Dnipropetrovsk region, one person was killed and several others injured in the Synelnykove district, according to Serhiy Lysak, head of the regional military administration.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the day’s death toll at 22, noting that a pregnant woman was among three people killed in a missile strike on the city of Kamianske, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. The attack reportedly targeted a hospital.

Elsewhere in Dnipropetrovsk, one person was killed and several others injured in the Synelnykove district, according to Serhiy Lysak, head of the regional military administration.

In a separate attack on Monday night, Russian forces struck the village of Velyka Mykhailivka in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, killing a 75-year-old woman and injuring a 68-year-old man, according to Serhiy Lysak. A private home was also damaged in the strike, he said in a post on Telegram.

Responding to the wave of deadly attacks, Andriy Yermak, a senior aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called for a forceful international response.

“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 wrote on social media.

In Russia’s southern Rostov region, a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks overnight killed one person and caused widespread disruption, according to Russian authorities.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence reported that air defence systems shot down 74 drones in total, including 22 over the Rostov region. As is typical, the ministry did not disclose how many drones were launched by Ukraine.

“A car was damaged on Ostrovsky Street. Unfortunately, the driver who was in it died,” Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, said in a post on Telegram. He noted that the attacks targeted multiple locations, including Salsk, Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Volgodonsk, Bokovsky, Tarasovsky, and Slyusar.

Debris from downed drones fell on the Salsk train station, damaging both a freight and a passenger train, Slyusar added. Passengers were evacuated, and no injuries were reported. Russia’s Railways said power was cut at the station, forcing a temporary suspension of train traffic.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv, which has frequently said its strikes inside Russian territory are retaliatory responses to Moscow’s sustained attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians. However, thousands have been killed since the full-scale invasion began in 2022—the vast majority of them Ukrainian civilians.

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to push back against Russia’s summer offensive, which has gained ground along previously quieter sections of the eastern front line.

Over the weekend, the Russian military claimed to have captured the settlement of Maliyevka in the Dnipropetrovsk region—weeks after announcing the seizure of another village in the area. Ukrainian officials have disputed those claims.

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