Sumy’s city centre turned into a blast zone after what officials described as a powerful Russian glide bomb strike tore into crowded civilian areas, killing at least four people — including a child — and leaving dozens wounded.
Across the wider wave of attacks that hit Sumy region and parts of southeastern Ukraine closer to the front lines, officials said the death toll rose to six.
“At the epicentre of the strike – a high-rise apartment building, a shop and a street,” regional governor Oleh Hryhorov wrote on Telegram, describing the impact point in Sumy. “There were a great many people. Children.”
Hryhorov said those killed included a five-year-old girl and her mother. He said 27 people were injured and taken to hospital, including a 13-year-old reported to be in serious condition.
He urged Ukraine’s partners to ramp up pressure on Moscow “so that the terror can be stopped”.
Sumy region, under near-constant attacks by Russian forces, is on the Russian border.
Aftermath of a drone strike on Sumy last week
Sumy region has faced near-constant Russian strikes and sits directly along the border with Russia. In recent months, Moscow has sought to widen what it calls a buffer zone there.
Earlier in the day, officials said one person was killed when Russian forces dropped glide bombs near the city of Sumy.
Further southeast, Dnipropetrovsk region was hit by more than 50 strikes involving drones, artillery and bombs, killing three people, Regional Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram. He said two of the deaths occurred near Nikopol, a town across the Dnipro River from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Hanzha said 12 people were injured.
In the city of Zaporizhzhia, another frequent target in recent weeks, a strike killed two people and injured 21, Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said. He added that fresh attacks were launched late in the evening.
Reuters could not independently verify the accounts.
In Kyiv, residents observed a day of mourning following a Russian missile and drone attack a day earlier that killed at least 30 people in what was described as the deadliest strike on the capital this year.
Meanwhile, Russia said it had captured the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka, a key position on the route toward the last major cities in the Donbas region still under Kyiv’s control.
Fighting for the city — which had about 78,000 residents before the war — has raged since late last year and has become the main focus of Russia’s offensive along a front stretching more than 1,000 kilometres.
“Kostyantynivka has been completely taken. The city is now entirely under our control,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including AFP, saying President Vladimir Putin had discussed the situation with the military.
Ukraine did not comment on Russia’s claim that it had seized Kostyantynivka.
