Ukraine says 7 injured due to Russian drone strike in northeastern Sumy region

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine said Monday that at least seven people were injured in a Russian drone strike in the country’s northeastern Sumy region.

“At the moment, seven people have been injured in Okhtyrka as a result of Russian drone strikes on a high-rise building,” Sumy Governor Oleh Hryhorov said in an overnight statement on Telegram.

Noting that two of the injured were hospitalized, Hryhorov said that the building sustained extensive damage, without providing further details.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said in a morning statement that the target was a nine-story residential building, where fires broke out in apartments between the second and fifth floors.

It added that 35 people were evacuated from the damaged building and that assessments of structural damage in the city are ongoing.

The city of Okhtyrka lies about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Ukraine’s border with Russia in the Sumy region, which has been frequently targeted by airstrikes during the more than three-and-a-half-year war.

Ukraine’s Air Force said its air defenses shot down 131 out of 149 various types of drones launched by Russia overnight.

Russia has not yet commented on the attack, though its Defense Ministry separately claimed that its air defenses shot down 67 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight.