A Russian air strike on a private vehicle in the Kharkiv region killed a 61-year-old judge of Ukraine’s Supreme Court, local officials said on September 28, while two strikes on a hospital in the border region of Sumy killed at least nine people and injured 12.
The Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office on September 28 said a Russian drone hit a black sedan being used to distribute humanitarian aid, killing the driver and severely injuring three women passengers.
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The driver was identified as Leonid Loboyko, a judge in the Cassation Criminal Division of Ukraine’s Supreme Court.
"The victim of the cynical attack was a judge of the Supreme Court, who was delivering humanitarian aid to local residents," the prosecutor’s office said.
“The staff of the Supreme Court expresses its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Leonid…sharing their grief and pain from this irreparable loss,” the court said on its Facebook page.
"In the hearts of all who knew Leonid Loboyko, the memory of him as kind, wise, and sympathetic person will forever remain."
Separately, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said an air strike killed three people and injured at least three more in the village of Slatyne, about 25 kilometers north of Kharkiv city, with other officials saying Russian forces had fired KAB glide bombs in the attack.
"The enemy hit civilian infrastructure, damaged an educational institution, shops," Synyehubov wrote on Telegram.
Earlier, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Russia on September 28 launched two strikes on a hospital in the border region of Sumy, killing at least nine people and injuring 12.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the Sumy strike, saying that Russia was "waging war on hospitals." He said on X that Ukrainian rescuers were "doing everything possible to provide our people with the help they need."
Klymenko initially put the death toll at six, including a police officer.
"As a result of the first strike, one person died and several floors of the hospital were destroyed," Klymenko said on Telegram, adding that while rescuers were evacuating the patients and staff, Russia launched a second strike.
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Ukrainian Rescuers Record Deadly Russian Drone Attack
Klymenko said it was the second day in a row that Ukrainian police lost personnel. "In Kryviy Rih, the search continues at the site of yesterday's attack on a police building. According to available information, one more employee may be under the rubble," he said.
Earlier, Ukraine's air force said its air defenses shot down 69 of 73 drones launched by Russia at Ukrainian regions early on September 28.
Russia also fired two ballistic and two cruise missiles at targets inside Ukraine, the air force said, adding that the two cruise missiles were downed.
Kyiv's military administration said separately that 15 incoming drones were shot down on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, with debris falling in one of the city districts.
"As a result, a nonresidential building was damaged. No information on casualties was received," the administration said in a message on Telegram.
The latest round of Russian attacks came a day after Zelenskiy met with Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump amid tensions over what critics call the ex-president's pro-Russian stance.
Zelenskiy, in a Fox News interview broadcast on September 28, said he received "very direct information" from Trump that if he won the November presidential election, he would support Kyiv in its war with Russia.
"I don't know what will be after elections and who will be the president...But I've got from Donald Trump very direct information that he will be on our side, that he will support Ukraine," Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy, who also met with Trump's November rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, and current President Joe Biden during his U.S. trip, said, "I don't want to be involved to the election period.... I don't want to lose one or another part of Americans."
Following his meeting with the Ukrainian leader, Trump repeated his claim that he would be able to rapidly end the war.
"I think if we win [in November], I think we're going to get it resolved very quickly," he said. Trump did not elaborate on his strategy to end the conflict.
Prior to the meeting, U.S. media had speculated the session might not take place after Trump took offense to Zelenskiy's comments in a magazine interview that stated Trump "doesn't really know how to stop the war."
Zelenskiy presented Biden and Harris his "victory plan," a strategy to end the war about which little detail is known.
The United States, Ukraine's main supporter, and Western allies have given Kyiv billions of dollars in military aid and other assistance while also slapping several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.