Bruised city braces for another onslaught

Artem revisiting a building in Sumy where a Russian drone strike killed four people. — ©2024 The New York Times Company

IT was the dead of night and a fire was raging in the apartment building where a Russian drone had struck just minutes earlier. Through the smoke, residents stumbled down the stairs from their apartments and told firemen who were trying to account for all the inhabitants that a young woman was renting the top-floor flat.

Artem, 37, was one of several officers on duty that night who raced up to try to find her. On the fifth floor, they broke open the metal door of the woman’s apartment, and dense black smoke billowed into the stairwell. On the other side of the door, they looked into a void.