On 24 March, a Russian missile strike on a residential district in Sumy injured 88 people, including 17 children, according to the Sumy City Council.
The attack occurred while Russia and the US were holding peace talks in Saudi Arabia and after Russian ruler Vladimir Putin agreed to a 30-day ceasefire on hits on energy infrastructure. However, Moscow does not stick to it and continues killing civilians and targeting peaceful Ukrainian cities.
The strike hit several apartment buildings and a school in Sumy. Volodymyr Artiukh, head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, said the children were inside a shelter at the time.
The city’s infrastructure department noted that eight buildings were left without gas supply, 18 buildings without hot water and heating, and six without cold water. Power company crews are still assessing the situation.
Prosecutors, in cooperation with law enforcement, are documenting the aftermath of the attack. The Security Service of Ukraine in Sumy Oblast is leading a pre-trial investigation into the incident as a war crime.
Witnesses told BBC Ukraine that many people were injured by glass fragments. Russian forces targeted a busy area of the city, home to a school, several kindergartens, and an infectious disease hospital.
“There were children everywhere,” a Sumy resident said.
One of the injured citizens told Suspilne about the severe damage to an apartment building in Sumy.
“I didn’t understand anything, just a loud noise, an explosion. I ended up in a corner on the floor – everything hurt so much. The window was shattered. Balconies, all the doors – everything flew out. Nothing was left,” she said.
Another victim shared that her son, a soldier, had tried to rescue her grandmother from the damaged building, but now she could not reach either of them.
“We are internally displaced. We rented an apartment here. We went to the market, and my grandmother stayed at home alone. My son, who is a soldier, went to save her. Now I can’t find anyone – I don’t know if he saved her or not,” she told the reporters.
The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council reported that Russian propagandists are spreading false information, claiming that the Russian army “targeted a Ukrainian military base in Sumy” to justify the missile strike on civilians.
By spreading fake claims about “military targets,” they aim to shift the blame for the destruction of civilian infrastructure onto the Ukrainian military, the сenter stated.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal emphasized that Russia continues to demonstrate its intent to pursue terror and called on the world to increase pressure on the aggressor state.
“Ukraine seeks peace, while Russia once again shows its desire to continue terror. The international community must intensify pressure on Russia to stop the aggression, ensure justice, and protect the lives of Ukrainians,” Shmyhal stressed.
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