Russian drone strike in Sumy Oblast kills entire family
Russia launched a drone strike in the Sumy Oblast border region overnight on Sept. 30, killing a couple and their two young children.
A combat drone hit a residential building in the village of Chernechchyna in the region's Krasnopillia community, Sumy Oblast Governor Oleh Hryhorov said, calling it "a targeted strike." No one in the family survived.
The attack killed a married couple and their two sons, ages six and four. Rescue workers pulled their bodies from the rubble of their destroyed home.
"This is a terrible and irreparable loss for the entire community and region," Hryhorov said.
"I express my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones. The death of the family in Chernechchyna is a tragedy that we will never forget or forgive."
The border villages in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast are subject to waves of Russian attacks on a daily basis. The relentless strikes have triggered mandatory evacuations in hundreds of communities.
Russia aimed to open up a new front line in Sumy Oblast in spring, seizing several villages in May and June and coming within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the regional capital. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sept. 12 that Ukrainian forces have "completely thwarted" Russia's Sumy offensive.
