At least seven civilians killed and dozens injured in 3 June strike

Attacks using unguided Grad rockets must be investigated as war crimes

‘… it turns out that there are no safe places, everywhere is dangerous and nobody can predict what intersection they will die on’ - Olena Shulga, witness

‘Inherently inaccurate weapons must not be fired at civilian areas’ – Brian Castner

Civilians in Sumy city in Ukraine are under increased unlawful attacks as the Russian military increase strikes in the region, Amnesty International said today.

In Sumy city earlier this month, Russian forces fired unguided 122mm Grad rockets from a multiple rocket launch system, killing at least seven civilians and injuring dozens more. These unguided munitions are inherently inaccurate and have wide area effects, and should therefore never be used in populated areas with civilians.

Sumy city centre, approximately 40 kilometres from the border with Russia, is home to an estimated 200,000 people, the vast majority civilians who have continued living there during Russia’s war of aggression. In recent weeks, Russia has captured several settlements in the region. The Russian military now appears to be within artillery range of Sumy city as they attempt to capture further territory.

Amnesty conducted remote interviews with nine people who witnessed strikes in Sumy on 3 June 2025. It also analysed dozens of photos, videos and social media posts, including footage from the immediate aftermath of the strikes and photos of weapons fragments that confirmed the use of 122mm Grad rockets. Amnesty visited five out of a reported seven impact locations to verify when and where a strike occurred.

According to recent data from the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, casualties from Russian attacks have increased significantly in Ukraine in recent months, particularly in regions closer to the front lines. According to Ukrainian authorities, the Russian military are carrying out between 80 to 120 shellings in Sumy Oblast per day.

Brian Castner, Amnesty International’s Head of Crisis Research, said:

“Our research has shown how Grad rockets have caused death and destruction across a wide area of Sumy city. These indiscriminate attacks must be investigated as war crimes.

“Russia’s continuing war of aggression has wreaked havoc on civilian life in Ukraine. Inherently inaccurate weapons must not be fired at areas densely populated with civilians.

“As the Russian military appears to be increasing attacks on Sumy and elsewhere across Ukraine, we again call for international humanitarian law to be respected. Civilians are not targets.”

‘Everywhere is dangerous’

On 3 June, at least five unguided rockets struck Sumy city at approximately 9.15am. The munitions hit densely populated civilian areas, leading to at least seven deaths and dozens of injuries. Photos and witness testimonies indicate that these strikes all occurred at about the same time and with the same weapon, suggesting that they were part of the same salvo of Grad rockets.

Grad rockets cannot be precisely aimed, and salvos fired from the multiple rocket launch system often fall within a large area. As such, their use in areas where civilians are concentrated constitutes an indiscriminate attack, as they fail to differentiate between military targets on the one hand, and civilians and civilian objects on the other. An indiscriminate attack that kills or injures civilians may constitute a war crime.

Serhiy Korotenko, 63, a retired engineer, was in his car driving to the local market. He was killed when a munition struck the intersection near his car on Shevchenko Avenue. His son, Andrii, was at his office approximately 400 meters away from the site when he heard explosions. He immediately drove to the scene of the strike. He told Amnesty:

“When I got there, there were already fire trucks and firemen, a lot of smoke, a lot of people. There were no windows left in the shop. It was total panic, we were running back and forth.”

The area was cordoned off by emergency services and police, and cars were on fire near the intersection. Later, when Andrii saw pictures of the scene of the strike on messenger app Telegram, he realised his father’s body was on the ground near where the rocket had struck.

Witnesses, including medical personnel, said that four or five people with serious injuries were lying on the ground after the explosion. Dozens of people were injured by fragments and shattered glass at the intersection full of cafes, pharmacies, and shops.

The Sumy authorities reported that four people died on the day of the attack. In the days that followed, an 86-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy died from their injuries, bringing the total number of people killed on Shevchenko Avenue to six.

Olena Shulga, who lives in the building overlooking the scene of the attack,  narrowly avoided the two explosions. She told Amnesty:

“I have tried [throughout the war] not to go to dangerous places at dangerous times of day… Now it turns out that there are no safe places, everywhere is dangerous and nobody can predict what intersection they will die on.”

Hospital and homes under attack

Amnesty also visited four other sites that were struck around the same time on 3 June.

On Remisnycha Street, around two kilometres from Shevchenko Avenue, Serhiy Pankiv heard explosions just after 9am. When he ran back to his home, neighbours told him that a rocket had landed in his ninth-floor apartment. He told Amnesty:

“If I had been at home, today they would be having my wake. It fell exactly in the place where I sleep.”

On Horova Street, approximately three kilometres from Shevchenko Avenue, a 35-year-old-man was killed instantly when a rocket fell nearby. When Amnesty visited the site where he was killed, bloodstains and damage from fragments were still visible.

A Grad rocket also landed in a flower bed outside of an apartment building on nearby Metalurhiv Street, and riddled the first two floors with fragments. Amnesty visited the site to confirm the damage. Svitlana Hovorun, 72, and her husband narrowly escaped injury in their apartment. She said:

“We are alive by accident.”

Sumy City’s Clinical Hospital Number Four, also on Metalurhiv Street, was struck at the same time. The hospital’s director told Amnesty there were approximately 160 patients at the in-patient facility that day. Fortunately, because the air raid siren had sounded, all patients and most staff were in the hospital’s bomb shelter at the time of the strike. He said:

“The shell fell closest to our hospice, our palliative care division… These are people who need round-the-clock care, who cannot walk independently.”

One driver, who was moving an ambulance at the time, was hit by fragments and received injuries to his forearm. The hospital’s windows were blown out, and there was damage to the building façade and roof.

Under international humanitarian law, hospitals and medical units are subject to special protection. Parties to any armed conflict must take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to patients, staff, and facilities during hostilities.

War crimes and crimes against humanity

Russian forces have been committing atrocities against Ukrainian civilians since the occupation of Crimea in February 2014. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which resulted in widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, the ICC has issued arrest warrants for six Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin, for war crimes and crimes against humanity

Amnesty has previously documented indiscriminate attacks and direct attacks on civilians that must be investigated as war crimes in Chernihiv, Izium, Kyiv Oblast, Mariupol, and across Ukraine.