SUMY, Ukraine — A Russian drone strike has heavily damaged a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility owned by India’s Kusum Group in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, killing at least one person and injuring several others, Ukrainian officials said.
A large part of the main building of the pharmaceutical plant was destroyed in the attack. Video footage from the scene showed thick plumes of smoke rising from the facility following the strike.
The damage from the attack is estimated at around 4 billion Indian rupees, according to reports. The number of casualties could change as authorities assess the impact of the strike.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attacks in a post on X and expressed condolences to the family and relatives of the person killed.
“Today, the Russians again attacked the Pivnichnyi Bridge in Kyiv with drones. They also struck an ordinary pharmaceutical warehouse in Sumy. Tragically, one person was killed,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Russian attacks elsewhere, including on a communications facility in Dnipro, left a total of six people injured.
Kusum Group began operations in Ukraine in 1994 as an Indian pharmaceutical exporter and distributor. The company is currently led by Indian national Rajiv Gupta and later expanded into the production and marketing of its own branded medicines.
The group established manufacturing facilities in India in 2007 and in Sumy, Ukraine, in 2009. It produces more than 50 generic pharmaceutical products and markets them in Ukraine and more than eight other countries, including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.
The company describes itself as a Ukrainian company of Indian origin. Its Sumy plant continued operating during the Russia-Ukraine war before being severely damaged in the latest attack.
The strike comes amid an intensified Russian aerial campaign against Ukraine. Moscow has increasingly relied on fast, relatively inexpensive Shahed-type drones in large-scale attacks, putting additional pressure on Ukraine’s air-defence systems.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has continued developing and deploying domestically produced weapons. Kyiv this week announced what it described as the first successful use of its locally developed FP-7 ballistic missile, reportedly with a range of about 250 kilometres.
COMMENTS