A guided Russian bomb has destroyed a home for the elderly in Ukraine and killed a 78-year-old woman.
At the time of the bombing 300 people were in the Sumy Geriatric Boarding House. The building housed over 200 patients, and there were at least 60 staff members, according to local news reports.
Fourteen people were injured in the bombing, and the building was split open in the attack, which had hit the fifth floor of the complex, according to British newspaper Metro.
‘There are wounded, some of them are in serious condition and they have been hospitalized,’ the head of Sumy regional administration, Volodymyr Artyukh said, according to the outlet.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky looks on as President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen calls in via video, during the Fourth Crimea Platform Leaders Summit on September 11, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. A strike on a old people’s home has killed one woman and left fourteen injured.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Acting Sumy Mayor Artem Kobzar said that “The enemy is hitting people who have nothing to do with the war, they are just sick people.”
“All the windows are completely broken, we made our way from the first floor to the last, it is impossible to stay inside at the moment,” he added.
Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the Kremlin via email for comment.
Multiple guided aerial bombs struck Ukraine yesterday, according to the evening address of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Just so far today Russian forces have already used nearly 90 guided aerial bombs,” he said.
“Against our cities, against Ukrainian positions. We will definitely respond to the Russian army for this terror. We will respond significantly.”
Zelensky is set to visit the U.S. next week, where he will meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The leaders will discuss the state of the war between Russia and Ukraine, including Ukraine’s strategic planning and U.S. support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression,” a White House statement said.
The statement added that Biden and Harris will “emphasize their unshakeable commitment to stand with Ukraine until it prevails in this war.”
The visit comes as Ukraine is continuing to urge its Western allies to allow it to strike targets deep within Russian territory using weaponry, including the Washington-supplied ATACMS, ground-launched supersonic ballistic missiles.
So far, these requests have been denied due to fears that granting permission would escalate the conflict that Russian President Vladimir Putin began back in February 2022 with a full-scale invasion.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Ukraine was closing in on receiving these permissions.
Putin has warned that the West would be in direct conflict with Russia if it were to allow Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-manufactured long-range missiles.
A post on X from the official Ukraine account earlier this month read: “Long-range strikes against military targets in Russia. As long as it takes.”
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