Strikes hit Sloviansk and Sumy as Russia pounds Ukrainian cities

Ukraine said Russian forces struck Sloviansk early on 15 April, dropping a FAB-1500 guided aerial bomb on the city centre at around 05:00 local time. The strike destroyed a children’s sports facility and an office building, and damaged at least 39 apartment blocks and 15 vehicles, local authorities in Donetsk region said. One civilian, a 57-year-old man, was injured and transferred to a clinic in Dnipro. The attack highlighted the continued pressure on urban areas close to the frontline.

In northeastern Ukraine, drones struck the industrial zone of Sumy several times on 15 April, igniting major fires at industrial facilities. Emergency services said the site was hit again while firefighters were working, with at least three strikes reported over several hours. Crews managed to contain and extinguish the blaze despite the repeated attacks. No casualties had been confirmed in Sumy at that stage, while officials continued to assess the damage.

The attacks came against the backdrop of sustained Russian pressure across much of Ukraine’s 1,000-kilometre frontline, stretching from Kharkiv to Kherson. Ukrainian officials reported more than 100 clashes in the previous 24 hours, with intense fighting around Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region.

At the same time, Moscow has kept up a campaign of drone and missile strikes against cities and energy infrastructure, forcing Kyiv to stretch already strained air defences and emergency services, even as Ukraine continues to target Russian military and logistics sites across the border and in occupied territories.