(Reuters) -Russia’s multiple overnight strikes on the frontline region of Zaporizhzhia in southwestern Ukraine killed 16 and injured at least 35 people at a correctional facility, regional Ukrainian military and Zaporizhzhia’s governor said on Tuesday
Zaporizhzhia governor Ivan Fedorov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said that the correctional facility’s buildings were destroyed, and nearby private homes were also damaged.
Moscow forces have regularly attacked Zaporizhzhia, using drones, missiles and aerial bombs, since the start of the war that Russia started with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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.
Fedorov said that Russian forces launched eight strikes on the Zaporizhzhia district, reportedly using high-explosive aerial bombs.
Reuters could not independently verify Ivanov’s report. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes, but thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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