Sumy Ukraine reports ten dead in Russian attack on hospital

Ten people were killed in a Russian attack on a hospital in the Ukrainian border town of Sumy. According to Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko, the clinic was bombed twice on Saturday. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of waging a “war on hospitals.” Several people were injured in further attacks on Sunday in the large city of Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine.

According to Zelensky, the hospital in the city of Sumy, near Russia’s Kursk region, was attacked with Iranian-made Schaded drones. “Whoever talks about this war in the world must pay attention to what Russia is attacking: they are waging war against hospitals, civilian objects and human lives,” he said on the Telegram online service. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal spoke of “further evidence of Russia’s war crimes.”

Interior Minister Klymenko said one person was killed in the first attack on the hospital. Several floors may have been damaged. The clinic then began evacuating patients and staff. According to prosecutors, the second attack occurred almost an hour after the first. Even as the evacuation was underway, “the enemy struck again,” Klymenko wrote.

“Only strength can force peace on Russia,” Zelensky said. “Peace through strength is the only right path.” The Ukrainian president has recently repeatedly asked his Western allies to be allowed to attack targets deep inside Russia with longer-range weapons provided by the West. So far, the Western partners have refused.

In the UN general debate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Ukraine’s European allies not to seek confrontation with Moscow. The West hopes to “defeat Russia with the help of the illegitimate neo-Nazi Kiev regime, but they are already preparing Europe to also plunge into this suicidal escapade,” Lavrov said, adding: “I will not talk about the futility and the . “Speaking about the danger of the idea of ​​wanting to fight for victory with a nuclear power.”

Russia has attacked at least 1,736 health facilities in Ukraine since its war of aggression began, according to human rights organization Human Rights Watch. These included a children’s hospital in Kiev in July and the Mariupol maternity hospital, which was bombed in March 2022, a month after the war began.

Sumy borders Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an offensive in August. One goal of the offensive was to create a buffer zone on Russian territory to protect the Russian population from attacks. Moscow responded to the advance with air strikes.

Attacks were also reported in other European regions. According to its own information, the Air Force intercepted 68 of 73 Russian attack drones in several regions on Saturday night. In addition, two out of four Russian missiles were defeated. According to authorities, two people died in an attack in the partially Russian-occupied Kherson region. According to the rescue service, at least eleven people were injured in several “massive air strikes” in Zaporizhzhia on Sunday. Several houses were “significantly damaged”

According to regional authorities, one person was killed in a drone strike in the Russian border region of Belgorod on Saturday. On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the downing of 125 Ukrainian drones, including over the Volgograd, Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions.