Sumy lies just across the border from Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a shock offensive on Aug 6 aimed at creating a “buffer zone” in Russian territory, among other goals.

Eight people were wounded in separate attacks on the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Kharkiv, authorities said.

“The body of a killed 37-year-old woman was found under the rubble” of a building in Sumy city, which was hit today, while a 48-year-old woman died in hospital from her injuries following the strike, prosecutors in Sumy said.

Eight others were wounded in the strike that sparked a fire.

Russian shelling also wounded a man and three women and damaged houses and cars in the northeastern Kharkiv region, according to national police.

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, three women were wounded in artillery shelling that damaged houses and a power line, said regional governor Sergiy Lysak.

A man was hospitalised with head wounds after Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson, said military regional administration head Roman Mrochko.

Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said his forces shot down 12 Shahed drones in the night from yesterday to today.

Four more crashed without reaching their target, he added.

Russian forces were advancing in eastern Ukraine, with Russia yesterday saying it took two more east Ukrainian villages.