(Updated: )
Editor's Note: This story was updated with the latest casualty figures.
A Russian drone struck a residential building in the northeastern city of Sumy overnight on Jan. 30, killing nine people and injuring 13 others, the Interior Ministry reported.
Search and rescue operations at the site of the Russian attack concluded later in the evening.
Russia launched a total of 81 attack and decoy drones against Ukraine on the night of Jan. 30, the Air Force reported. Ukraine's air defense shot down 37 of them, while 39 more disappeared from radars before reaching targets.
A Shahed-type attack drone hit a multistory building in Sumy shortly after midnight local time, Governor Volodymyr Artiukh said.
Two couples were killed in the attack: A 74-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife and a 65-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman, local authorities reported.
Some of the injured victims have been hospitalized and are reported to be in serious condition. Among the injured are an eight-year-old child and an 18-year-old man.
Videos posted of the attack show significant damage to the building, seemingly between the sixth and seventh floors of the building. Authorities later said that 12 balconies were destroyed in the attack.
Located just under 30 kilometers from the Russian border, the city of Sumy, as well as the surrounding region, has continuously come under attack since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
Throughout the day on Jan. 29, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported 106 separate attacks on the region.
Olga Rudenko
