Russia attacked a hospital in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, early Saturday, killing 10 individuals and wounding at the least 22 others, Ukrainian officers mentioned.
Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, mentioned “loitering munitions” – or suicide drones – hit the Saint Panteleimon Medical Hospital in two assaults 45 minutes aside.
“The vast majority of the deaths occurred in the course of the second assault, which occurred when first responders arrived on the scene and sufferers tried to evacuate,” he mentioned.
The Sumy regional administration mentioned late Saturday that 10 individuals had died and 22 had been injured, together with 15 who have been in hospital, 5 of them in severe situation. All hospital sufferers have been evacuated to different amenities, he added.
Sumy Metropolis Corridor mentioned on its web site that 9 high-rise buildings have been broken along with the hospital.
Bell mentioned he had been in Sumy final week after a lethal Sept. 19 assault on a nursing residence that left at the least one civilian useless and 13 wounded, and recalled an Aug. 13 assault on one other Sumy hospital complicated. metropolis.
“Medical amenities are protected by worldwide humanitarian legislation and are entitled to particular safety. They shouldn’t be focused,” he mentioned, including that 33 civilians have been killed and 132 wounded within the metropolis of Sumy and the encompassing area since on August 6.
Ukrainian prosecutors mentioned there have been 86 sufferers and 38 workers on the hospital on the time of the Saturday morning assaults.
DRONE ATTACKS
The hospital shared a photograph on its Fb web page that it mentioned confirmed one of many useless, a nurse and mom of two daughters named Tatiana Tikhonova.
“The primary assault killed one particular person and broken the ceilings of a number of flooring of the hospital,” Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko mentioned on Telegram.
“Everybody on this planet who talks about this warfare ought to take note of the place Russia is hitting. They’re preventing in opposition to hospitals, civilian objects and folks’s lives,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned on Telegram.
“Solely drive can drive Russia to peace. Peace by means of drive is the one appropriate path.”
Klymenko didn’t specify what weapons have been utilized in Saturday’s assaults. The regional administration and air drive mentioned the assault was carried out by drones, which Bell recognized as loitering munitions.
Assaults on the town of Sumy and the Sumy area have change into extra frequent since Ukrainian forces launched an operation in Russia’s Kursk area in August and captured dozens of settlements.
Town of Sumy is situated simply 32 km (20 miles) from the Russian border, and Russian forces, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, have been attacking the area and the town with drones and bombs. guided.