New Delhi:
A massive pharma plant in Ukraine that belongs to India’s Kusum group came under attack by Russian drones, killing one and leaving several injured.
The main structure of the pharma plant in Ukraine’s Sumy has been mostly destroyed. The casualties and the number of injured may change, officials said.
Visuals of the attack showed a huge plume of smoke coming from the area where the drones struck.
The Kusum group started in 1994 as a distributor exporting Indian medicines to Ukraine. It is currently run by Indian national Rajeev Gupta.
In 2002, it stopped distributing other companies’ products and began marketing its own brands. It then moved into manufacturing, opening plants in India in 2007 and in Ukraine’s Sumy in 2009, followed by two more Indian facilities.
The group makes over 50 mostly generic products and sells them in more than nine countries, chiefly Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a post on X condemned the “Russian attack” and offered condolences to the family and loved ones of the person who was killed.
“This morning, the Russians once again struck the Pivnichnyi Bridge in Kyiv with a drone. They attacked an ordinary pharmaceutical warehouse in Sumy with drones. Tragically, one person was killed. My condolences to the family and loved ones. In Dnipro, they struck a communications facility. Six people were injured as a result of these attacks,” he said.
This morning, the Russians once again struck the Pivnichnyi Bridge in Kyiv with a drone. They attacked an ordinary pharmaceutical warehouse in Sumy with drones. Tragically, one person was killed. My condolences to the family and loved ones. In Dnipro, they struck a communications facility. Six people were injured as a result of these attacks. Overnight, the Russians launched 135 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 50 of them jet-powered. Kyiv, the Dnipro, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia regions came under attack. And among the main targets of these terrorists, as always, are ordinary residential buildings, critical infrastructure – everything that makes up normal everyday life. There are power outages in some communities. Our services are working at the impact sites. It is important that Ukraine is not left alone against this terror. This week alone, the Russians have used more than 1,900 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 25 missiles against Ukraine. More than 800 of the drones were jet-powered, and Russia must be held accountable for this escalation. Today, Friedrich Merz @bundeskanzler – Federal Chancellor of Germany – is visiting Kyiv. A leader of a country that consistently demonstrates leadership in protecting the lives of Ukrainians from Russian strikes. We are grateful for all the support, and today we are preparing decisions to give us in Ukraine, and all of Europe, greater capabilities to defend ourselves. There will be important agreements between Ukraine and Germany. Russia must be stopped together. Thank you to everyone who is helping.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) October 4, 2026
The Sumy plant continued to operate throughout the years of the Russia-Ukraine war but has now been badly impacted. The loss is estimated to be at least Rs 400 crore. The Kusum group describes itself as a Ukrainian company with Indian roots.
Since the summer, Moscow has launched dozens of fast and relatively cheap jet-powered Shahed drones daily in Ukraine, whose air defence teams have struggled because interceptor drones were too slow to catch them.
Ukraine also announced the first combat use this week of its domestically made ballistic missile, the FP-7, which has a range of approximately 250 km.
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