Editor’s note: This is a developing story.
A Russian drone struck a district police department in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy Oblast the morning of March 11, injuring over 40 officers, the Interior Ministry reported.
The attack took place in the town of Shostka, approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Russian border.
“This morning, a UAV hit the district police department in Shostka. The building was destroyed,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said at a briefing on March 11, as reported by the outlet Interfax Ukraine.
Klymenko’s initial report included a casualty count of 22 injured officers. Later, ministry spokesperson Mariana Reva told the outlet Ukrainska Pravda that over 40 police officers were injured in the drone strike.
The report follows a wave of Russian attacks targeting Ukrainian law enforcement in February. The incidents, which Kyiv considered terrorist attacks, targeted police in Mykolaiv, Dnipro, and Lviv.
The attack in Lviv on Feb. 22 — a double-tap series of explosions in the city’s Old Town — killed one police officer and one member of Ukraine’s National Guard. Another 25 police officers were injured.
Sumy Oblast is a regular target of Russian drone, guided bomb, and artillery attacks. The frequency and intensity of daily Russian strikes has triggered mandatory evacuation orders in settlements across the region.
Russian forces have also launched ground offensives into Sumy Oblasts in an attempt to expand the front line.