The Russian military carried out two targeted strikes on Tuesday in the city of Sumy, the capital of Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region. One of the strikes reportedly targeted a meeting involving NATO officers and senior Ukrainian military leadership.
The first strike hit the Sumy Machine-Building College, which, according to Russian sources, houses the “Sumy Task Force” of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
The second strike targeted the regional headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU). The same Russian sources claim a meeting was underway at the time between Ukrainian and NATO officers.
Videos posted to social media showed emergency medical teams cordoning off both locations, with local reports describing dozens of casualties being pulled from the rubble.
Vasyl Malniuk, head of the SBU, had recently taken public responsibility for Sunday’s drone attack that destroyed at least nine Russian strategic bombers. That operation, involving first-person-view (FPV) drones launched from trucks inside Russia, targeted 5 air bases of Russia’s Air Force, of which 2 bases were successfully penetrated in what was a major intelligence failure on the part of Moscow.
Despite the timing, Tuesday’s attack on Sumy may not have been a direct retaliation for the drone strike. Rather, it appears to be part of a broader Russian offensive in the Sumy region, where numerous towns and villages have fallen in recent days.
On Monday, a video emerged on social media showing a Russian reconnaissance drone hovering just miles from Sumy’s city center, suggesting that Russian forces are now approximately 13 miles (22 kilometers) from the city’s closest edge.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Ukrainian Member of Parliament Maria Bezugla publicly criticized the Ukrainian General Staff over the deteriorating military situation in Sumy. She urged civilians in the region to evacuate, stating that the fortifications in the Sumy area were the “worst prepared” among all frontline and border defense zones.