An Indian-run pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Ukraine’s Sumy region was severely damaged after Russian drones struck the area on Sunday, killing one person and injuring several others, according to Ukrainian officials.
The plant belongs to the Kusum Group, an Indian-origin pharmaceutical company that has operated in Ukraine for several years. The main structure of the facility was reportedly mostly destroyed in the attack. The number of casualties could rise as authorities continue assessing the damage.
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Visuals from the site showed a huge plume of smoke rising from the area following the drone strikes. The scale of destruction has raised concerns over the future of one of the company’s key manufacturing operations in Ukraine.
The Kusum Group began its operations in 1994 as a distributor exporting Indian medicines to Ukraine. The company is currently led by Indian national Rajeev Gupta. In 2002, the group stopped distributing products manufactured by other companies and began marketing medicines under its own brands.
The company later expanded into pharmaceutical manufacturing. It opened its first manufacturing facility in India in 2007 before establishing a plant in Sumy, Ukraine, in 2009. It subsequently added two more manufacturing facilities in India.
Kusum Group produces more than 50 mainly generic pharmaceutical products and exports them to several international markets. Its key markets include Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.
The company describes itself as a Ukrainian pharmaceutical business with Indian roots. Its Sumy facility had continued operating despite the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the latest attacks and confirmed that one person was killed in the strike on a pharmaceutical facility in Sumy.
In a statement, Zelenskyy said Russia had launched 135 attack drones against Ukraine overnight, including more than 50 jet-powered drones. Several regions, including Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia, came under attack.
Zelenskyy said six people were also injured in attacks elsewhere, including Dnipro. He said critical infrastructure and ordinary civilian facilities had been targe
