Two civilians killed in Russian bombardment of Sumy Oblast

Two people were killed and one more injured in Russian strikes targeting Sumy Oblast on the afternoon of August 22, 2024.

Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported on Telegram that Russians launched two guided aerial bombs on the civilian infrastructure of Esman hromadaі A hromada (Ukrainian: громада) is a territorial community that typically includes one or several settlements (villages, towns, or cities) and has its own local self-governance structure. Hromadas are part of Ukraine's decentralisation reform, which aims to give more power and resources to local governments. in Shostka district at around 13:00 on 22 August. 

“Two civilian men, aged 74 and 67, were killed in the attack. The wife of one of the deceased was injured and has been hospitalised,” Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported.

Prosecutors initiated criminal proceedings under Article 438.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder).

Left-wing BSW leader in Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht, has called for the removal of all funding for supplying weapons to Ukraine from the federal budget for 2025.

To provide context, the Ukrainian government and civil society have repeatedly called on countries around the world to impose restrictive sanctions on the Russian Federation to compel it to return within the bounds of international law. They also ask the world to support Ukraine’s efforts to liberate its territories to guarantee human rights and freedoms and restore constitutional order there.

Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyy, revealed that since 24 February 2022, Russian missiles and drones have hit 11,879 facilities in Ukraine, with 6,203 being civilian and 5,676 military, Expres Defense reports.

He added that the Russians used 9,590 missiles and 13,997 drones to attack Ukraine, of which 2,429 missiles and 5,972 drones were shot down.

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, at least 219 civilians were killed and 1,018 injured in Ukraine in July 2024, which makes it the deadliest month for civilians since October 2022. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stated that the high number of casualties in July continues a trend of increasing civilian casualties since March 2024.

The UN pointed out that a large-scale coordinated attack launched by the Russian Armed Forces across Ukraine on July 8, 2024, killed at least 43 civilians, including 5 children, and injured 147, including 7 children, in Kyiv City, Dnipro City, Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) and Kyiv region.

One missile in the 8 July attack also struck a hospital complex in Kyiv city, destroying the toxicology department of the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital and significantly damaging the Center for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

In June and July, the most intensive offensive military operations by the Russian Armed Forces shifted from the northern Kharkiv region to the Donetsk region, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted. As a result, verified civilian casualties in the Donetsk region increased from 125 civilians killed or injured in May to 224 in June and 269 in July 2024.

The vast majority of civilian casualties (90%) and damage to educational and health facilities (86%) continued to occur in Government-controlled territory.

As for now, it is impossible to determine the exact number of casualties, as Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and the representatives of the ICC have no access to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.