More than ten people have been killed in airstrikes on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, according to local authorities, news agency MIA informs.
“In some localities residential buildings were bombed,” Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, head of Sumy’s regional administration, said in statement posted on Facebook early Tuesday.
He said several houses were destroyed when a bomb hit near the center of Sumy. More than ten people were killed, including children, he said. Four Ukrainian soldiers were also killed in what Zhyvytskyi described as “unequal combat with the Russian military.”
The information could not initially be independently verified. Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov meanwhile estimated the damage wrought to Ukraine’s transport infrastructure by the Russian invasion at more than 10 billion dollars.
This included bridges, railway lines and airports, he said in remarks reported in Tuesday’s edition of the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper.
The Ukrainian official said the damage could be repaired in two years and that he was counting of foreign assistance to rebuild. Russia was offering a fresh Ukraine ceasefire for Tuesday, Moscow’s ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Monday amid efforts to get civilians to safety.
Another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine is expected on Thursday.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba confirmed plans that would see him meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Turkey this week.
“Currently the 10th [of March] is planned. Let’s see – if he flies to Antalya, then I’ll fly too. Let’s sit down, let’s talk,” Kuleba said in a video message on Monday evening.
