A Russian drone struck a multi-storey apartment building in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy early on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring 13, including a child, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

The drone blew out a wall and surrounding windows in the building in Sumy, a major city, just after 1 a.m., the Sumy regional administration said.

A Russian drone attack on a residential block killed nine people including three elderly couples in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, officials said on Thursday. Moscow has pummelled Ukrainian cities with dozens of drones or missiles almost daily since it invaded in early 2022.