Symbolic imageRussian strikes kill four in Sumy and Mykolaiv
Russian strikes on the Ukrainian cities of Sumy and Mykolaiv killed four civilians overnight on Tuesday. Ukraine the same day accused Russia of a war crime over a drone that hunted a street vendor in Kherson.
What happened
- Russian forces hit civilian infrastructure in Sumy with guided aerial bombs, killing two girls aged 5 and 10 and an elderly woman.
- Rescuers pulled the children's bodies from the rubble of their home; four people sought help for acute stress reactions.
- In Mykolaiv, a Russian strike on a residential area killed an 89-year-old woman and injured seven, including girls aged 2 and 12.
- Ukraine's Air Force counted one Iskander-M ballistic missile and 136 attack drones overnight; 117 drones were downed or jammed.
- Police footage from Kherson shows a drone chasing a 52-year-old vendor around his van, then exploding; Reuters verified the location.
The view from outside
The New York Times reports a front the other sources leave out: Russian drone attacks have hit hundreds of Ukrainian filling stations, in apparent retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries.
What could happen next
- Russia has not commented on the Sumy, Mykolaiv or Kherson attacks in the reporting available.
- No investigating body or prosecution has been named for Ukraine's war crime allegation over the Kherson drone.
- Whether drone strikes on filling stations continue is tied to Ukraine's campaign against Russian refineries.
How the camps see it
Ukraine: Kyiv calls the Kherson attack part of a Russian drone 'safari' against civilians and demands more pressure on Moscow and security guarantees.
Russia: Moscow has issued no public response to the strikes in these sources; its drones have targeted Ukrainian filling stations in apparent answer to refinery attacks.