Ukraine is preparing a new set of air defense measures for the Sumy region amid months of intensified Russian strikes.
According to Ukraine’s defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who visited Sumy this week with a Defense Ministry team and Deputy Air Force Commander Pavlo Lazar, the main purpose of the trip was to develop new ways to bolster air defenses under conditions of near-daily threats in the border region.
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“We held a coordination meeting with the head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, military officials, and representatives of all responsible services on protecting the region’s airspace,” Fedorov said, adding that “Russia is deliberately attacking peaceful Ukrainian cities, killing civilians, and destroying critical infrastructure.”
Unprecedented pressure on Sumy
Sumy has been under “unprecedented fire pressure” since the beginning of the year, with Russia launching more than 12,000 strikes on the region, Fedorov said.
He reported missile and drone attacks, guided air bombs, and first-person-view (FPV) drones among the weapons used, adding that the assaults have killed at least 122 people and injured more than 1,200, “including many children.”
More than 2,600 residential buildings, schools, hospitals, along with energy and civilian infrastructure facilities have been damaged or destroyed, with Fedorov describing the situation has worsened significantly since June.
Reportedly, Russian forces stepped up the use of Molniya-type unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), fiber-optic FPV drones, and guided bombs. “Russia’s goal is to terrorize people and make life unbearable in border regions,” Fedorov said, adding that “protecting people and Ukrainian cities remains our absolute priority.”
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Next steps in air defense
Fedorov said the meeting produced a package of decisions to strengthen Sumy’s air defenses, focusing on improving overall effectiveness, expanding capabilities against attack drones and aerial threats, as well as improving the protection of critical infrastructure and logistics routes, with the main focus remaining on civilians.
“Some of the decisions are not public for security reasons,” he continued, “but the key point is that they are aimed at significantly strengthening the Sumy region’s protection.”
Additional decisions will be made soon, focusing on improving coordination among all government bodies in shielding frontline regions from Russian air attacks.
On July 5, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said Moscow intends to push its so-called “security zone” further into Ukraine, covering the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv regions. He also accused Western governments of concealing battlefield realities from their citizens and claimed Kyiv is exaggerating threats to secure continued military funding.
Just two days prior, Russia killed at least four people in an attack on Sumy, including a child, and injured 20 others, after a guided bomb hit a busy street. Residential buildings sustained heavy damage in the attack, and a 13-year-old was reported in critical condition.
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