At least 10 people were killed and 13 were injured in a Russian drone strike on the city of Hlukhiv in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region on Monday, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported on Tuesday.
According to the Sumy region’s Prosecutor General’s Office, Russia used “internationally banned methods of warfare” to strike the dormitory of an educational institution in the city at around 11:20pm local time on Monday evening.
Three people are likely to be trapped under the rubble, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine wrote.
The strike was carried out with two Shahed attack drones, the Sumy Region Council said, with two children among the 12 injured and more people likely to remain trapped under the rubble as rescue operations continued.
Posting footage of the aftermath of the attack on X on Tuesday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged world leaders to be “resolute and strong enough for Ukraine” to stop attacks on civilians.
“Every new Russian strike only confirms Putin’s true intentions. He wants the war to continue, he is not interested in talking about peace. We must force Russia into a just peace,” Zelensky said.
The attack on Hlukhiv came a day after a Russian missile strike on a residential building in the regional capital Sumy killed 11 people, including two children, and injured a further 89 on Sunday evening, with authorities declaring Monday and Tuesday days of mourning in Sumy for those killed.
The Sumy region lies directly across the border from Russia’s southwestern Kursk region, where the Russian military is currently attempting to drive out the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which managed to establish a foothold there following a surprise cross-border incursion in August, one of the aims of which was to end the continuous attacks on the Sumy region.
After the Biden administration lifted its restrictions on Kyiv’s use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles to hit military targets deep inside Russian territory on Sunday, The New York Times said that initial Ukrainian strikes would likely target Russian and North Korean forces in the Kursk region.