17-year-old boy dies after June 3 Russian attack on Sumy, death toll rises to 6
A 17-year-old boy wounded in Russian attacks on downtown Sumy on June 3 died in the hospital, raising the death toll to six, regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported on June 10.
Russia launched five attacks on the northeastern Ukrainian city using multiple launch rocket systems earlier this month, striking a densely populated area and injuring 28 people, including three children.
The boy, whose name was not disclosed, succumbed to his injuries several days after the strike.
"Russia is once again targeting what is most precious to us — our children, our future. Seventeen years old is just the beginning of life's journey. And that journey has been brutally cut short," Hryhorov wrote on Telegram.
The barrage set two vehicles ablaze, heavily damaged a medical facility, and shattered homes across multiple residential buildings.
Emergency workers completed their response at the site by 7 p.m. local time on June 3, and demining teams removed remnants of undetonated ordnance.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said one of the projectiles failed to explode but tore through the wall of a nine-story apartment building.
The attack came less than 24 hours after Russia and Ukraine held the second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2, which yielded only a preliminary prisoner exchange agreement and no broader ceasefire progress.
Sumy Oblast, which shares a long border with Russia, has been repeatedly shelled and targeted by drone strikes since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
In late May, Zelensky warned that Russia had concentrated 50,000 troops near the border in preparation for a possible renewed offensive to establish a "buffer zone" along Ukrainian territory.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war in 2022, 632 Ukrainian children have been confirmed killed, according to Ukraine's national database.
Olena Goncharova
