Elderly and children among casualties in latest Russian strikes of Sumy region

According to the Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, two women residing at the Okhtyrka Nursing Home for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities in the Sumy Oblast were killed by Russian-guided aerial bombs at around 04:45 am on September 13, 2024.

“The windows in the assembly hall on the first floor of our facility were shattered. There were women there, who passed away due to stress. We will have them buried,” Viktor Tokariev, director of the nursing home, told the Sumy branch of Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne. 

The attack also damaged an apartment block, three vehicles, outbuildings, and the local business premises.

According to the Sumy Oblast Military Administration and Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, Russians also dealt a blow to civilian infrastructure in the Yampil hromadaі A hromada (Ukrainian: громада) is a territorial community that typically includes one or several settlements (villages, towns, or cities) and has its local self-governance structure. Hromadas are part of Ukraine's decentralization reform, which aims to give more power and resources to local governments. in the Sumy Oblast that morning, killing two civilian men aged 54 and 60 and injuring six, including a four-year-old child.

The Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported that four explosions had sounded. The attack damaged residential buildings and a pharmacy, and disrupted power supply.

On September 10, 2024, two bomb disposal experts from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine hit a projectile as they were clearing mines in Sumy Oblast.

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the driver died of his injuries. The other bomb disposal expert was wounded and taken to hospital. Both of them were from the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Moreover, Russian forces conducted an airstrike on Sumy city on the night of September 7-8, 2024, killing two people and injuring four more, including two children, according to the Sumy Oblast Military Administration.

Russian military forces launched an airstrike on the border in the Sumy Oblast on September 6, killing four people and injuring four others.

The Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported then that Russians dropped three guided bombs on civilian infrastructure in the village of Krasnopillia, the Sumy Oblast, using methods outlawed by international law. They killed a 66-year-old woman in her home and injured four others, including a 15-year-old child. The attack damaged approximately 15 private residences.

On September 1, the Russian forces attacked two industrial facilities in the city of Sumy, injuring a 42-year-old woman who works at one of them. That day, Russians attacked a grain lorry in the Sumy Oblast, killing one person and injuring others.

To provide context, Ukraine has repeatedly called on countries worldwide to impose restrictive sanctions on the Russian Federation to compel it to comply with international law.

As Bloomberg reported earlier, several European Union countries are concerned about the decision by Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to plan engagement with Russia for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

During a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday, France, Belgium, Poland, and several Baltic and Nordic nations expressed surprise at the IMF’s recent decision to resume annual economic reviews with Moscow, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

According to sources, a Lithuanian official stressed that the country intends to address the issue directly with Kristalina Georgieva during a lunchtime meeting with European finance ministers in Budapest on September 13.

The diplomat added that they view the decision as proposing economic aid and a semblance of legitimacy to Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, counter to EU and US efforts to isolate Russia.

During the Yalta European Strategy (YES) meeting, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there are only two ways to end the Russo-Ukrainian war: either Russian occupation forces are driven out of Ukraine by force, or a diplomatic process guarantees the liberation of all Ukrainian lands.

In addition, Zelenskyy believes that the democratic world should be embarrassed over the fact that Israel’s allies shoot down missiles and drones over the Middle East but have so far failed to approve a decision to shoot down Russian missiles and Iranian drones in Ukraine’s airspace.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

“The missiles’ make might be different, but not Iran’s terrorist intention behind the distribution and deployment of these weapons. If allies can come together to shoot down missiles and drones in the Middle Eastern sky, why haven’t they decided to join forces and shoot down Russian missiles and Iranian Shaheds in the sky over Ukraine?” he asked.

Zelenskyy expressed frustration that when Ukraine raise this issue with partners, everyone avoids it. Ukraine’s partners are even reluctant to say they’re working on a solution.

“So far, only Belarus has taken action by shooting down Russian Shaheds. I didn’t think that’s how it would happen… It’s true; I believe that the strong, democratic world should be embarrassed,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell stated on September 10 that China is providing direct support to the Russian military apparatus, thus assisting its war against Ukraine.

Previously, China frequently denied supplying Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine, insisting that it does not supply weapons to either side and has a neutral position on the war in Ukraine.

Campbell said of China’s latest assistance to Russia that “these are not dual-use capabilities” and they “are basically being applied directly to the Russian war machine”.

“These are component pieces of a very substantial effort on the part of China to help sustain, build and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine,” he added, stressing that the collaboration between Russia and China is “worrisome”, Politico quotes Campbell.

According to Campbell, in exchange for Beijing’s help, Russia has started giving China technologies it had not shared before, “in areas where previously they had been frankly reluctant to engage directly with China,” from submarines and aeronautical design to missile capabilities.

Reuters, citing two European intelligence sources and documents available to the editorial team, reported that Russia has started production of a new long-range attack drone called the Garpiya-A1 in 2023, which contains Chinese engines and spare parts.

Members of police demining unit remove a warhead from a Russian kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicle landed by a radio electronic warfare during one of latest drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in an unknown location in Ukraine, in this handout picture released January 26, 2024

Earlier, Zelenskyy in an interview with the Brazilian newspaper Metrópoles described the proposal of China and Brasil to end the Russo-Ukrainian war as destructive, as it is a mere political statement that has not been discussed with Ukraine.

“That’s a mere political statement. I told Lula, we told the Chinese side – let’s sit down together. Let’s talk together. We’re not your enemies, and you’re not our enemies. Why have you suddenly decided that you have to take Russia’s side or be somewhere in the middle? What kind of view is this? In the middle of what? We are at war on our soil. You have to stop the Russians, you have to show that you are strong nations,” he said.

The Ukrainian President expressed astonishment that Brazil and China did not consult Ukraine.

“Russia has also gotten involved and said it supports the Sino-Brazilian initiative. What is this nonsense? It means that you’ve discussed an initiative with Russia, put it forward and said, ‘Let’s have this initiative’. This is definitely not about justice, not about values, definitely not about respect for Ukraine, definitely not about respect for the territorial integrity that both China and Brazil talk about so much,” he said. 

China and Brazil jointly released a “six-point consensus” to promote a “political solution to the Ukrainian crisis.” The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that this plan has  allegedly received “a positive response from more than 110 countries.”

Brazil is among the countries that did not sign the final communiqué of the Global Peace Summit held on 15-16 June in Switzerland.