A Russian missile strike targeted a densely populated district in northeastern Ukraine’s Sumy on Monday, injuring at least 88 people, including 17 children, while ceasefire negotiations continued, officials reported.
Regional governor Volodymyr Artiukh announced the latest casualty toll on national television. He said many more children had escaped injury as they had been evacuated to air raid shelters.
“They were in the area in a densely populated area hit by the enemy strike,” Artiukh told the television.
“Two schools fell within the impact zone. I was present when our rescuers cleared the locations where the children were.
They were in protective structures. All the children were rescued and evacuated to a safe place.”
Several high-rise residential blocks in the city centre were also damaged.
Artiukh had earlier spoken in a video that he said was shot at the scene with heavy black smoke, fires and a car with shattered windows in the background. Smoke also rose from the upper floors of a five-storey residential block nearby.
Zelenskyy Deplores Attack
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy deplored the Russian missile attack in his nightly video address as the latest example of “losses, pain and destruction, something Ukraine never wanted.”
The missile struck the city as Russian and U.S. officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss a possible ceasefire.
Zelenskyy said Russia was “the only entity prolonging this war and tormenting both our people and the entire world.
“To force Russia into peace, strong measures and decisive actions are needed,” he said. “We are ready to support every strong initiative that makes diplomacy more effective.”
Foreign Minister Adrii Sybiha said Moscow was speaking of peace “while carrying out brutal strikes on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities.”
“Instead of making hollow statements about peace, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians,” Sybiha said.
Acting Sumy mayor Artem Kobzar said on Telegram an industrial facility was attacked but did not name it.
Sumy, about 30 km (20 miles) from the Russian border, comes under constant drone and missile strikes from Russia.
(With inputs from Reuters)
