Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

At least four people were killed and nine injured in a Russian drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy in the early hours of Thursday morning, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine has said.

According to the State Emergency Service, a Shahed attack drone launched by Russia struck a 10-storey residential building, destroying nine apartments, killing four people and injuring nine more, including one child.

Rescuers managed to save people from under the rubble of the destroyed upper floors, as well as evacuate 118 residents from the building, the State Emergency Service said.

Thursday and Friday will be days of mourning in Sumy for those killed in the attack, the city’s acting mayor Artem Kobzar announced.

Writing on X on Thursday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strike a “heinous Russian crime” and the deaths a “horrific tragedy”.

“It is crucial that the world does not pause in putting pressure on Russia for this terror. I am grateful to all the leaders who speak out in support of Ukraine and Ukrainians”, he wrote.

The Sumy region borders Russia’s southwestern Kursk region, where the Russian military is trying to reclaim territory currently held by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who established a foothold in the area after a surprise cross-border incursion in August that aimed to secure a “buffer zone” to prevent attacks on Sumy.

In its morning briefing on Thursday, Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched 81 drones at 10 regions of the country through the night, with 37 downed by Ukrainian air defences and a further 39 failing to reach their target.