Eight killed in Russian drone attacks on medical centre in Sumy, Ukraine

The second attack hit the hospital in northeastern Ukraine as patients evacuated, authorities and witnesses say.

At least eight people have died in two consecutive Russian drone attacks on a medical centre in the northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy, Ukrainian officials have said.

The first attack on Saturday morning killed one person, and it was followed by another attack while patients and staff were evacuating, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel that Russia had hit the hospital using Shahed drones, stating that eleven people were injured.

Sumy lies just across the border from Russia’s Kursk region where Kyiv launched a shock offensive on August 6, which it says is aimed partly at creating a “buffer zone” inside Russia.

Regional prosecutors said the first attack in Sumy on Saturday took place at about 7:35am (04:35 GMT), hitting the hospital where there were 86 patients and 38 staff.

The second attack took place at about 8:25am (05:25 GMT) as rescuers and police were providing assistance and evacuating patients at the scene, prosecutors said.

Dobrobat, a volunteer group that helps repair damaged homes, wrote on Facebook that its volunteers were working at the scene when the second attack came.

It posted a video showing thick smoke, explosions and people rushing to shelter as sirens wailed.

“People are just lying on the street dead,” a volunteer said, filming himself at the scene on his phone.

‘Victory plan’

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 69 of 73 Russian drones launched overnight as well as two of the four missiles. City authorities in Kyiv said about 15 drones had been shot down over the Ukrainian capital and its outskirts.

In Russia, the Defence Ministry said Saturday that air defences overnight had shot down four Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region and one over the Kursk region, both areas bordering Ukraine.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy visited the United States to lobby support for Ukraine, meeting with US President Joe Biden and Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris to detail what he has described in recent weeks as his “victory plan”.

He had previously described the five-point plan as a “bridge” towards a strong enough negotiating position for Ukraine to force Russia to end the war on Kyiv’s terms.

Before the meeting, Biden announced an additional $8bn in military aid for Ukraine, a package including the provision of Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) munitions to “enhance Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities”.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies