Trucks burned, dogs injured: consequences of the Russian army strike on Sumy

Seven private trucks burned in Sumy as a result of a drone strike on September 28 at night on one of the city’s parking lots, which is next to a center for the care of stray animals. There were no injuries or deaths.

The consequences of a Russian drone strike on a parking lot — seven civilian trucks were damaged, and a fire broke out on the spot. Rescuers had to periodically suspend their work due to the threat of repeated strikes.

Ms. Lydia says she lives in a nearby house. She heard the first explosion around 2 a.m.:

“The first explosion was very strong, and then there were a few softer ones. There were 13 explosions in total. Of course, we were scared, it was burning, I hear that, in the morning the women say that it was burning really badly. We didn’t see anyone anywhere, we have no shelter, we have nowhere to hide, we just cover ourselves with a blanket and sit.”

The shelter, which is located on the territory of the Sumy Animal Protection Society, operates not far from the parking lot. A Cane Corso dog named “Zara” was so scared that she bent iron bars to escape the explosion, says Nataliya Sushko, a volunteer at the Sumy Animal Protection Society. The woman says that almost all the dogs have been on sedatives since the morning:

“The rods are very bent, they are strong, they can even withstand our Alabai, and as you can see, they haven’t cleaned the blood, most likely there is a wound in the mouth. Now she feels normal, she ate, but we will give her a sedative, because we don’t know how it will affect her, it’s not clear. Some of the other dogs feel normal, some are stressed, they don’t leave their kennels. Even those that are cheerful, dogs in contact with great stress don’t leave their kennels, they refuse to eat.”

An Alabai guarded the parking lot along with the guards, says Nataliya Sushko, now after the explosion the dog has disappeared, so the community has made an announcement on the Facebook network about his whereabouts.

“A parking lot worker came up to us, I arrived here at seven, I’m looking at what happened. He says that their Alabai disappeared. I know her because he walks all the time, I know that they look after her there, she’s a very cool dog. She lived in an aviary, the worker says that it was closed,” the woman says. As a result of the night strikes, Acting Mayor Artem Kobzar reported, in addition to cars, an infrastructure facility was damaged. There were no injuries or deaths.