With the forced withdrawal, in early March, of Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region (Russia), Sumy, with its 250,000 residents, joined the grim list of major Ukrainian cities (Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, Pokrovsk) directly threatened by the Russian advance. The front line is only about 30 kilometers to the north and east, and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers launch daily assaults on this northeastern region of Ukraine, of which Sumy is the administrative center.

At night – and sometimes even during the day – the sky buzzes with the sound of long-range Shahed-type attack drones sent by the Russian army. Air attacks can occur at any time and warning sirens wail several times a day. A Shahed drone struck the roof of the regional hospital on March 19, forcing the evacuation of 147 patients. The windows of the pediatric hospital, 100 meters away, were shattered, but miraculously, no one was seriously injured.

This grim reality has not emptied the streets of Sumy, as was the case at the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion in 2022. The residents, for the most part, continue their lives, giving the city an appearance of normalcy. All shops, restaurants and bars are open, and car traffic is dense from morning until evening, until 11 pm, when the curfew takes effect. Suddenly, the city falls silent and distant explosions from the front can be heard. The moped-like sound of long-range attack drone engines is sometimes perceptible as is the sound of anti-aircraft defense trying to shoot them down. Some do not hesitate to go out on their balconies to admire, despite the danger, the spectacle of luminous points rising into the sky – tracer bullets – which sometimes ends with a flash when the target explodes.

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