Russian airstrikes on Friday claimed the lives of two women and injured eight others in the northeastern city of Sumy, Ukraine, as officials urged residents near the Russian border to evacuate.
Sumy, which lies close to Russia’s Kursk region, has been a focal point following a surprise Ukrainian offensive on August 6, aimed at establishing a “buffer zone” within Russia.
Regional prosecutors confirmed that a 37-year-old woman was found dead beneath the rubble of a building struck during the attack.
A 48-year-old woman later succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. The attack also sparked a fire and left eight others wounded.
Due to the intensified shelling, Governor Volodymyr Artiukh urged the evacuation of residents from 183 settlements in the Sumy region, noting that “it is dangerous to stay in these territories now.”
So far, more than 21,000 people have evacuated from the border area.
In separate incidents, Russian strikes wounded eight individuals in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions.
Later on Friday, another attack in the town of Kurakhove in the eastern Donetsk region targeted a residential building, an administrative building, and a shop, injuring at least five people, according to local authorities.
Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk reported that his forces successfully intercepted 12 Shahed drones overnight, with four others crashing before reaching their targets.
Meanwhile, Russian forces continued their advance in eastern Ukraine, capturing two additional villages on Thursday.
