Rescue workers remove a retirement home resident following a Russian missile strike, Sumy, Ukraine, 19 September 2024. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
One person was killed and at least 14 others were injured in a Russian airstrike on a retirement home in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, the regional authorities reported on Thursday evening.
Emergency services evacuated 147 people from the scene, according to the authorities, who also announced that the deceased was a 70-year-old woman who was a resident at the facility.
Addressing the nation in his evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that there had been over 200 residents and 60 members of staff in the building when the Russian missile struck.
Residents evacuated from a retirement home following a Russian missile strike, Sumy, Ukraine, 19 September 2024. Photo: Suspilne
Offering his condolences to those affected by the tragedy, Zelensky stressed that Russian forces would have known that the building housed a home for the elderly and was not a military target. He added that the Russian military had dropped nearly 90 guided aerial bombs on Ukrainian cities and troop positions on Thursday and vowed to respond to Russian terror.
The Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine borders Russia’s southwestern Kursk region, which has been partially occupied by Ukrainian troops since they began an incursion last month. One of the stated aims of the surprise Ukrainian advance into the Kursk region was to make it more difficult for Russian forces to attack cities in northeastern Ukraine such as Sumy.
