Nine people were killed on Saturday in a double Russian strike targeting a hospital in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, Ukrainian regional authorities announced.
“The toll (…) has increased: it is now established that nine people were killed and 12 were injured,” the Sumy regional administration announced on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had reported on social networks earlier a toll of eight dead and eleven injured in these attacks carried out by the Russian army, according to him, with “Shahed (explosive) drones”.
Sumy. Russia hit one of the city’s hospitals with “Shahed” drones. As of now, we know that 8 people have been killed. My condolences to their families and friends. Eleven others have been wounded, and 113 patients have been evacuated from the hospital.
The rescue operation is… pic.twitter.com/liI6SVKvg7
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) September 28, 2024
Russia is “waging war on hospitals, civilian infrastructure and people’s lives. Only force can force Russia into peace,” he insisted. “Peace through strength is the only right path.”
According to Interior Minister Igor Klymenko, a first attack “killed one person” and damaged several floors of a hospital, which led to its evacuation.
While rescuers and police arrived on site, “the enemy struck again during the evacuation of patients,” the minister explained.
Russia sometimes doubles its attacks on the same target in Ukraine. The Ukrainian National Police, which counted one dead and one injured in these bombings, spoke of “a cynical attack” on its Telegram account.
The first attack took place at 7:35 a.m. (4:35 GMT), targeting the hospital which then housed 86 patients and 38 staff members, according to Ukrainian prosecutors.
“There are corpses”
The second strike took place at 8:25 a.m. (5:25 a.m. GMT), when rescuers and police were on site to help evacuate patients.
Police released images of damage to the four-story hospital, also showing stretchers waiting outside and cars hit.
A Ukrainian volunteer group that helps rebuild buildings, Dobrobat, said on its Facebook account that its members were on site when the second strike occurred. He released a video showing thick smoke, explosions and civilians fleeing to the sound of alarm sirens.
“There are dead bodies,” said a volunteer from the organization, filming with his phone. “We survived by a miracle as we were entering the building,” he adds.
Sumy is the main city of a region of the same name, bordering several Russian regions including Kursk, where Ukraine took control of dozens of localities during a major offensive in August.
