KYIV: A Russian drone blasted a hole in an apartment building in northeastern Ukraine during a nighttime attack, killing at least four people and injuring nine others, officials said Thursday.
The Shahed drone blew out a wall and surrounding windows in the apartment block in Sumy, a major city, just after 1 a.m., the Sumy regional administration said. Four people were rescued from the rubble, and a child was among the injured, it said, adding that 120 people were evacuated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it "a terrible tragedy, a terrible Russian crime."
The war between Russia and Ukraine, which enters its fourth year next month and shows no signs of ending, has killed more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations.
Civilians have also endured hardship caused by Russian attacks on the power grid that have denied them heating and running water. Many have been evacuated from areas along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line where Ukrainian defenses are straining to hold the bigger Russian army at bay.
Russia launched more than 80 drones at Ukraine overnight, the air force reported, in what are common nighttime barrages. Most of the drones were shot down or stopped by electronic jamming, it said.
In Ukraine's southern Odesa region, Russian drones damaged a hospital and two apartment buildings, regional head Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram. No one was injured, he said.