9 Civilians Killed in Sumy: Zelenskyy Condemns ‘Inhuman’ Russian Attack

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this was a deliberate and brutal attack on innocent people.

The attack targeted a civilian minibus in the city of Bilopillia, located near the Russian border.

The local military leadership reported that the minibus was en route to the regional capital, Sumy, when it was struck by a Russian Lancet drone at 6:17 AM local time.

Oleh Hryhorov, head of the Sumy region, described the drone strike as “inhuman.” “This is yet another reminder that Russia does not distinguish between military and civilian targets,” he stated on Saturday.

Deliberate Elimination of Civilians

Zelenskyy called the attack a “deliberate elimination of civilians” and emphasized that the Russian forces “could not have been in doubt about the type of vehicle they were hitting.”

Russia has not commented directly on the incident, but state media reports that forces hit a “military gathering point” in the Sumy region.

The attack occurred just hours after Ukraine and Russia had conducted their first direct peace talks since 2022.

The meeting in Istanbul did not result in a breakthrough, but the two parties agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war in the coming days.

“As on any day during this war, there was an opportunity to cease fighting. Ukraine has long reached out,” Zelenskyy said following the meeting.

Simultaneously, Ukrainian drones attacked an ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea. According to Reuters, the strike caused a massive explosion, hitting storage facilities containing military equipment, fuel, and weapons.

The conflict in the Sumy region has intensified in recent months. In August, Ukraine used the region as a launch point for offensives against Russia’s Kursk region but was later pushed back. Since then, Russia has intensified attacks in the border areas using both artillery and drones.

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