Russian Drone Strikes Hit Civilian Couple Fleeing Sumy Border Village

Russian forces killed a civilian couple as they tried to evacuate from a border village in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region on Tuesday, according to the Sumy Region Military Administration on January 27. 

The head of the regional military administration, Oleh Hryhorov, said the couple was leaving a border settlement in the Krasnopillia hromada, with the man pulling his injured wife on a sledge, who appears unable to walk, toward a safer area.

Hryhorov said a drone strike killed the 52-year-old woman and a subsequent FPV drone strike killed her 54-year-old husband, adding that repeated attacks prevented the pair from reaching help. 

The Sumy regional prosecutor’s office said it was documenting the attack and investigating the circumstances of the two deaths.

Russia has denied deliberately targeting civilians since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while Ukrainian authorities have said strikes on civilian areas constitute war crimes. 

Sumy region, which borders Russia, has faced frequent shelling and drone attacks during the war, including a Russian drone strike that injured at least seven people in the city of Okhtyrka on December 8, 2025, Reuters reported.