(Bloomberg) -- At least nine people were killed and 12 were wounded after Russian airstrikes hit a medical clinic in Ukraine’s northern city of Sumy, local military administration says on Telegram.
Separately, fierce fighting continues in the eastern Donetsk region where Ukraine’s forces have been attempting to hold onto Vuhledar.
The first hit on Sumy led to the evacuation of personnel from the facility and caused one casualty, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram earlier same day.
A second strike followed soon after, Klymenko said, in what’s known as a “double-tap” attack. Extensive damage was reported including to the hospital’s trauma unit. Russia hasn’t commented on the incident.
Kremlin forces continue to intensively shell military, power facilities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine using missiles, drones and glide bombs.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday that it carried out a series of strikes a day earlier on Ukrainian “airfield infrastructure” with Kinzhal ballistic missiles and drones, adding that “all designated targets were hit.”
Ukraine hasn’t confirmed damage to military targets from Friday. At least three people were killed by a Russian strike on a Ukrainian Danube River port on Friday, and at least four in a strike on a police facility in Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipro region.
Kyiv’s forces continue regular drone attacks on Russian fuel and munitions depots as well as airbases, and has also shelled border regions. Ukraine has urged Western allies to provide long-range weapons to strike deeper into Russia’s territory to target airfields.
Ukraine’s partners remain reluctant to meet this demand, which was among the topics raised by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during meetings in New York and Washington this week.
Russia’s authorities said that six residents in the Belgorod region were wounded by Ukrainian shelling overnight.
Fight for Vuhledar
In Vuhledar, the pre-war civilian population of about 15,000 has dwindled to a few hundred after repeated Russian incursions since 2022 that have accelerated again this month.
The coal-mining town is located on a slightly elevated plain which could give Kremlin troops a military advantage in the area as they attempt to assert control over more of Ukraine’s east.
Kremlin troops “have reached the outskirts of Vuhledar amid what appears to be an intensified offensive push,” according to an updated from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
“Russian forces may manage to seize all of Vuhledar, but how quickly or easily they are able to do so will likely be contingent on partially on Ukrainian decision-making,” ISW said, adding that capturing the town “is unlikely to fundamentally alter the course of offensive operations” in the area.
(Updates with latest casualties in the first paragraph, Russian strike claims in sixth.)
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