KYIV, 29 July 2025 – Monday’s air strike on a prison in south-eastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region that reportedly left 16 people dead and almost 100 injured may amount to a serious violation of international humanitarian law, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said today.
According to Ukrainian authorities, several air-dropped bombs launched by Russian armed forces struck Bilenkivska Penal Colony No. 99 located about 25 kilometers from the frontline in Zaporizhzhia region on 28 July.
“Prisoners are civilians, and they must be protected under international humanitarian law,” said Danielle Bell, head of HRMMU.
Information collected by HRMMU from Ukrainian authorities indicates that all those killed were prisoners. HRMMU has also geolocated and reviewed several photographs from the facility, which shows damage to the prison consistent with the use of powerful air-dropped glide bombs, given the extensive structural damage and wide-area blast effects observed.
A spokesperson for the President of the Russian Federation denied responsibility for the attack.
HRMMU monitors are planning to visit the site at the earliest opportunity to gather additional information.
Under international humanitarian law, attacks can be directed only at military objectives and not at civilians or civilian objects. A prison is a civilian object that should not be attacked unless used for military purposes.
Also on 28 July, an attack struck near a hospital in Kamianske, Dnipropetrovsk region, damaging the hospital and its maternity ward and killing three and injuring 22, according to Ukrainian authorities. At least two of the dead were reported to be patients, including a woman who was seven months pregnant. On 29 July, an attack reportedly killed five civilians and injured three in the Kharkiv region.
