A Russian drone strike in Sumy Oblast on 22 June killed a 13-year-old boy, his 36-year-old father, and his 73-year-old grandmother, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office reports. The boy’s 31-year-old mother, his 10-year-old brother, and his 13-year-old sister survived the strike with injuries.
The strike killed three members of one family across three generations in a single drone attack on their home.
Znob-Novhorodske lies in northern Sumy Oblast near the Russian border. The community has been repeatedly struck by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale war in 2022.
Ukrainian prosecutors open war crimes investigation under Article 438
“Prosecutors, in coordination with other law enforcement officials, are documenting the consequences of the attack,” the Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office said.
Ukraine opened a pre-trial investigation into the commission of war crimes that resulted in the death of people, which is Part 2, Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code implements provisions of the Geneva Conventions in Ukrainian domestic law. Direct attacks on civilian objects, including residential homes occupied by civilians, are prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention and Additional Protocol I.
Sumy Oblast border communities endure sustained Russian attacks
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure across Sumy Oblast. A Russian glide bomb killed a 69-year-old woman in a Shostka apartment block on 3 April 2026. A Russian drone killed a grain-truck driver in Sumy Oblast on 16 March 2026, with police opening war-crimes proceedings under Article 438 for each strike.
Previously, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported that at least 274 civilians were killed and 1,763 were injured last month, which is a 93 percent increase compared with May 2025 and a 23 percent increase over April 2026.
The investigators say the use of fire weapons by Russia in urban areas of Ukraine was the main driver of the high casualty toll.
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