Sumy drone attack kills two as Kyiv presses for stronger air defence
A look back at the Russian drone strike on Sumy and the Kramatorsk restaurant attack that preceded it.
What happened in Sumy on 3 July 2023? Russia launched drone attacks on the city that killed two people and injured 19 others, according to reports at the time. In response, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a major upgrade of Ukraine's anti-aircraft defences.
The strike came six days after another deadly attack on civilians, this time in the east. On 27 June 2023, a Russian missile hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, killing 13 civilians and injuring 61.
The Kramatorsk strike
Later accounts of the Kramatorsk attack give more detail. The missile struck the RIA café in the centre of the city at 19:29 on Tuesday, 27 June 2023. Four of the 13 dead were children, and the number of wounded was later given as 59. A second missile hit the private sector in the Bilenke district, wounding five local residents.
Two regions, one demand
Taken together, the two attacks fell on very different parts of the country: Sumy in the north-east and Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast. In both cases the victims were civilians. The call on 3 July for stronger air defences followed the Sumy drone attack, which killed two people and injured 19.
