After a family of four was killed by Russian artillery shelling of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced retaliation.

“Every occupier destroyed, every piece of Russian equipment burned, fire instead of their headquarters and warehouses, the very eloquent smoke on Kerch bridge and more – all this proves that we will not leave any of Russia’s crimes unanswered,” he said in his Telegram video on Sunday.

In the Kherson region alone, authorities say seven people were killed and about 15 others injured.

In the village of Shyroka Balka, Russian artillery killed five people – including a family of four – father, mother, a 12-year-old son, and a baby girl only about three weeks old – on Sunday morning, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The region was shelled 17 times by Russian army fire during the day, Mr Zelensky said in his address.

The local military administration announced a regional day of mourning in the region on Monday.

The baby girl’s parents were also killed in the village of Shyroka Balka, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.

The baby’s 12-year-old brother was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, Klymenko said.

He later died in hospital.

In the neighbouring village of Stanislav, two adults were killed, according to the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak. “The enemy continues to shell the Kherson area,” he said.

The villages are located on the western bank of the Dnipro River at its mouth into the Black Sea.

Russian troops withdrew from the area last autumn.

However, it is still within the range of their artillery.

At least 500 children have been killed so far in Ukraine by the Russian military since Moscow invaded the country more than 17 months ago, Ukrainian prosecutors said on Sunday.

Another 1,100 children suffered injuries of varying degrees, the prosecutor’s office in Kyiv said, adding that the actual number is likely to be higher as the authorities continue to investigate casualties in the war zone and areas liberated by Ukraine and in regions occupied by Russian troops.

The number of children killed and injured was highest in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv near the frontline, followed by the capital region of Kyiv and Kherson in southern Ukraine.

(dpa/NAN)