SUMY, Ukraine — A nightlong Russian guided bomb attack struck the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, with one strike landing near a residential building. The attack killed at least four people and injured dozens more.
This area is one of the central parts of the city of Sumy. It’s a place where people come for evening walks,” RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service correspondent Alyona Yatsyna reported from the scene shortly after the strike late on July 3.
Images from the ground showed holes in the five-storey building as regional governor Serhiy Kryvosheyenko announced that some residents might be temporarily relocated to local dormitories.
Kryvosheyenko said a child was among those killed in the attack, adding that six more children, two of them in serious condition, were among the 27 people injured.
An air raid siren could still be heard in Sumy on the morning of July 4, with local monitoring channels reporting that Russian forces had launched Shahed drones toward the city as emergency services were still working to clear the rubble.
The shelling of Sumy came two days after a devastating Russian attack on Kyiv that killed 30 people, injured nearly 100 more, and marked the biggest assault on the Ukrainian capital this year, which local residents described as a “nightmare.”
The drone and missile strikes on the city destroyed and damaged homes and left streets strewn with shattered glass, charred trees, and burnt-out cars.
Kyiv Mourns Victims Of Major Russian Drone And Missile Attack
A major Russian drone and missile attack set Kyiv ablaze overnight on July 2, leaving areas across the Ukrainian capital strewn with shattered glass, charred trees, and burnt-out cars.Local resident Olha visited the aftermath in the city’s Darnytskiy district with her children. She used to live in a high-rise residential building there that was now partially reduced to rubble following the strikes.
She said her family moved out of the building a year ago, adding that her children were born there, on the sixth floor."/>
“We were just here on Sunday. My little kid was playing on the swings,” Olha told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, holding back tears.She said her family moved out of the building a year ago, adding that her children were born there, on the sixth floor.
according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service."/>As of July 3, the bodies of 10 people killed in the Russian attack had been recovered from beneath the building’s rubble, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Some residents brought flowers and toys to the scene.Olha said she knew many of her neighbors who lived in the building, including a man who was killed in the attack.”My husband used to talk to him a lot,” she added, struggling to continue. “It’s a nightmare.”
Russia’s July 2 attack on Kyiv caused the largest destruction in the city this year to date and was the deadliest in months.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cut short his visit to Ireland to fly back. He said damage had been reported at more than 20 sites across the capital, including an ambulance station, a research institute, and a hotel.
post on X on July 3."/>On July 3, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service continued efforts to clear debris and search for survivors. Operations were ongoing at at least three more locations in the Darnytskiy district.”Every day and every night, the Russians strike ordinary civilian infrastructure, and terror is the only argument they have left for not stopping the war,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X on July 3.
Russia's military said the assault was in response to "terrorist attacks" against Russian "civilian infrastructure," as it came amid weeks of Ukrainian drone strikes that have targeted Russian oil refineries.The campaign caused nationwide fuel shortages inside Russia and stoked discontent among Russians who were previously unaffected by the Ukraine war, now in its fifth year."/>
Russia’s military said the assault was in response to “terrorist attacks” against Russian “civilian infrastructure,” as it came amid weeks of Ukrainian drone strikes that have targeted Russian oil refineries.The campaign caused nationwide fuel shortages inside Russia and stoked discontent among Russians who were previously unaffected by the Ukraine war, now in its fifth year.
Following the latest attacks across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on July 4 for increased pressure on Moscow, saying, “so that this terror comes to an end.”
“Those Russia will listen to are, without a doubt, the United States, the other G7 and G20 countries, and Europe,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. He is due to attend a NATO summit in Ankara next week.
After the attack on Kyiv, Russia’s military said the assault was in response to “terrorist attacks” against Russian “civilian infrastructure” and came amid weeks of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian oil refineries.
The campaign has caused nationwide fuel shortages inside Russia and stoked discontent among Russians who were previously largely unaffected by the country’s all-out war against Ukraine, now in its fifth year.
Zelenskyy vowed that Ukraine would respond to the latest strikes.
Early on July 4, the governor of Russia’s second-largest city, St Petersburg, Aleksandr Beglov, reported on Telegram that a major Ukrainian drone attack had targeted the area.
While Beglov’s post stopped short of saying what had been targeted in the city, some 800 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border, Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels showed pillars of smoke rising from a local oil terminal.
The Ukrainian military later confirmed the strikes, saying they had hit St Petersburg’s oil terminal, “one of the largest oil product transshipment terminals in the Baltic region,” as well as a Russian naval base on the island of Kronstadt in the Leningrad region.
Russia’s defence ministry reported that its military shot down hundreds of drones overnight.
Diplomatic efforts led by the administration of US President Donald Trump have stalled recently, as Washington has focused on the war with Iran and the turmoil in the Middle East.
Kyiv and Moscow remain far apart on negotiating terms, with the Kremlin maintaining its hard-line stance and offering no compromise on its demand for full control of Ukraine’s key Donbas region in the country’s east.
