Russia has fired a guided bomb at a retirement home in Ukraine, killing a 78-year-old woman and wounding at least 14.
Shocking footage shows traumatised residents being evacuated from a house in Sumy after Vladimir Putin’s forces destroyed the building in a brutal attack.
The nursing home was home to 221 people before it was destroyed when a rocket hit the fifth floor of the complex.
“There are wounded people, some of them are in serious condition and have been hospitalized,” Volodymyr Artyukh, head of the Sumy regional administration, said as he announced an evacuation.
Mykola, a patient who lived on the fourth floor of the Sumy Geriatric Boarding House, said: “I was in the room, there was an explosion, the windows were shattered.”
An elderly resident of the home is carried in a chair by emergency workers after the explosion
The building was torn apart after a rocket hit the fifth floor on Thursday afternoon
Elderly residents are helped by emergency workers after the terrible explosion in the Sumy house
An elderly woman is helped out of a nursing home by a rescue worker to safety
Residents were placed on stretchers and makeshift beds outside after being evacuated from the building
Pensioners lie on the ground outside the building after the indiscriminate attack by Putin’s forces
Another resident, Vitali Anokhin, who lived in the house for six years, said: ‘Everything was fine until those damn Russians came.’
Another victim, Viktor, said: ‘The glass flew out. I was completely covered in glass. The rescuers came and helped me down.’
Another, Volodymyr, told reporters: ‘All my belongings were left there.
“The window just fell out. At least I didn’t (die) there. A man from my unit was carried out.”
The city’s acting mayor, Artem Kobzar, said: “All the windows are completely broken. We went from the first to the last floor. It is impossible to stay inside at the moment.”
‘The enemy is killing people who have nothing to do with the war, they are just sick people.’
Raisa Kutsenko, who was caring for patients on the fifth floor at the time of the bombing, said: ‘There are no windows or doors, the roof is destroyed and there are no ceilings.
‘I had 24 people on the fifth floor. Eight were bedridden.’
Shocking images show vulnerable elderly people as latest victims of Putin’s aggression
Emergency services carry a person in a blanket out of the building
An elderly resident is carried out of the building, 14 people were injured in the explosion
The house in Sumy was attacked by a Russian guided bomb on Thursday
Artyukh said the shocked residents “need medical and psychological help.”
He added that the attack took place in the afternoon while residents were having lunch and resting.
Photos show residents in wheelchairs being carried out of the damaged building by firefighters and other emergency workers.
The Sumy region, on Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia, has been facing increasing attacks from Russia since Ukraine invaded part of the neighboring Kursk region in early August.
Over the past six weeks, Russia has deployed troops to stop the incursion into its territory and has also stepped up its offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Due to the increased threat, Ukrainian authorities announced in August that they planned to evacuate a total of 45,000 residents from the hardest-hit parts of the region.
Ukraine’s air force said last night it had destroyed 61 of 70 Russian attack drones and one of four missiles fired by Russia at its territory, including the capital Kiev.
“The air defense system operated in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kiev, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Sumy, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Khmelnytsky, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions,” it said on Telegram.