A Russian missile attack early Tuesday morning, March 25, struck a densely-populated district of the northeastern city of Sumy in Ukraine, wounding at least 88 people, including 17 children as ceasefire talks ploughed on.
Regional governor, Volodymyr Artiukh, who announced the latest casualty toll on national television, said more children had escaped injury as they had been evacuated to air raid shelters.
“They were in the area in a densely-populated area hit by the enemy strike.
“Two schools fell within the impact zone. I was present when our rescuers cleared the locations where the children were. They were in protective structures. All the children were rescued and evacuated to a safe place,” Artiukh said.
According to reports, several high-rise residential blocks in the city centre were also damaged.
Artiukh had earlier spoken in a video that he said was shot at the scene with heavy black smoke, fires and a car with shattered windows in the background.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy deplored the attack in his video address as the latest example of losses, pain and destruction that Ukraine has endured.
The latest attack came as Russian and US officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss a possible ceasefire.
According to Zelenskyy, Russia was the only entity prolonging the war and tormenting both its people and the entire world.
“To force Russia into peace, strong measures and decisive actions are needed. We are ready to support every strong initiative that makes diplomacy more effective,” he said.