Eight individuals were killed in two back-to-back Russian drone strikes on a medical facility in Sumy, a northeastern city in Ukraine, according to *Al Jazeera*, which cited Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine’s Interior Minister, Ihor Klymenko, stated that the second attack occurred as patients and medical staff were being evacuated following the first strike, which had already claimed one life earlier on Saturday morning.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on his Telegram channel that the Russian assault on the hospital, involving Shahed drones, left eleven people injured.
Sumy is situated near the Russian border, specifically across from the Kursk region, where Kyiv launched an unexpected attack on August 6, aiming to create a “buffer zone” within Russia, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Prosecutors added that the second strike happened around 8:25 a.m. (05:25 GMT), while rescue workers and law enforcement officers were assisting and evacuating people from the scene. The first drone attack, which targeted the hospital that housed 86 patients and 38 staff members, took place earlier at approximately 7:35 a.m. (04:35 GMT).
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, two of the four missiles and 69 out of the 73 Russian drones launched overnight were intercepted. Kyiv authorities confirmed that around fifteen drones were downed over the capital and surrounding areas, as reported by *Al Jazeera*.
On the other hand, Russia’s Ministry of Defence stated on Saturday that their air defense systems had shot down four Ukrainian drones over Belgorod and one over the Kursk regions, both of which are adjacent to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy visited the United States on Thursday to seek further backing for Ukraine, holding meetings with US President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to outline what he recently referred to as his “victory plan.”