CHERNECHCHYNA, Ukraine (BN24) — A Russian drone strike overnight killed an entire Ukrainian family in the northeastern Sumy region, according to local officials, as Moscow intensifies its aerial attacks across the country.
Oleh Hryhorov, the regional governor of Sumy, said a residential building in the village of Chernechchyna was directly hit during a wave of drone assaults. Emergency responders later recovered the bodies of two young boys, ages four and six, alongside their mother and father, from the ruins.
“This is a tragedy that we will never forget or forgive,” Hryhorov wrote Tuesday morning on Telegram, accusing Russian forces of deliberately targeting the civilian home.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that two residential buildings were partially destroyed in the strike. Photos shared by the agency showed firefighters battling flames in the aftermath of the attack.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it intercepted 46 of the 65 drones launched overnight, but acknowledged that 19 drones struck six different regions directly. Russia’s Defense Ministry, while not commenting on the Sumy incident, claimed it had destroyed 81 Ukrainian drones over five of its own regions in the same period. No casualties were reported in those cases.
The deadly attack comes amid a sharp escalation in Russia’s use of drones and missiles in recent weeks. Ukrainian officials have pleaded for increased Western support, particularly in the form of advanced air defense systems capable of repelling near-daily attacks.
Kyiv has also intensified its calls for long-range weapons, arguing that the ability to strike deep into Russian territory could cripple Moscow’s military-industrial infrastructure and force President Vladimir Putin into serious negotiations.
Last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance confirmed that Washington is considering Ukraine’s request for Tomahawk cruise missiles, which would place major Russian cities, including Moscow, within range.
In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday that the EU and Ukraine had agreed to allocate €2 billion ($2.1 billion) toward drone technology. “This allows Ukraine to scale up and to use its full capacity. And of course, it will also allow the European Union to benefit from this technology,” she said.
The war in Ukraine, now well into its third year following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, shows little sign of resolution. Western leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and top European officials, have repeatedly pushed for a ceasefire, but Putin continues to reject those calls. Kyiv and its allies accuse Moscow of using peace overtures as cover for continued military gains.
As Russian forces press slowly forward on the battlefield, often incurring high casualties, the toll on civilians continues to mount — with the loss of an entire family in Sumy now standing as another grim chapter in the war’s unfolding tragedy.
