Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Sumy border region injure 14, officials say

(Reuters) -Russian attacks on Monday in two areas of Ukraine’s border Sumy region, where Moscow’s troops have gained a foothold in recent months, have injured 14 people.

The military administration of Sumy region, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said drone strikes in the town of Putyvl, just inside the border, injured 11 people and damaged civilian infrastructure.

To the southeast, the mayor of the city of Sumy, Artem Kobzar, said a guided bomb attack had injured three people and damaged a multi-storey apartment block, smashing windows and balconies.

Sumy region was used by Ukrainian forces as a springboard in a large incursion nearly a year ago into Russia’s Kursk region. The Kremlin says Ukrainian forces have been ejected from the Russian region, and President Vladimir Putin said Moscow planned to establish a buffer zone in the area.

Russia has launched an increasing number of attacks on Sumy region. A missile strike in April on the city of Sumy killed 35 people.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Leslie Adler)