We are talking about 16-year-old Maxim, who was injured as a result of a Russian drone strike on the territory of the territorial recruitment and social support center in Sumy on March 18. At that moment he was near a stop not far from the TCC. As a result of the explosion, the teenager suffered a facial injury from debris and is in hospital.
The mother found out about her son’s injury by phone – she received a call from a volunteer who provided first aid to the teenager on the spot. In addition, Maxim managed to dictate his mother’s number before hospitalization.
After stabilizing the guy’s condition, he was transported to Kyiv, where he continues treatment at the Okhmatdyt hospital. Doctors are planning to install a metal plate in his cheek, because the injuries turned out to be serious.
The media reported that this is not the first shelling that the teenager has survived. On April 13, 2025, Palm Sunday, he and his mother were traveling by bus in Sumy when Russian ballistic missiles struck the city center. More than 30 people died then.
Maxim's mother was seriously injured, and her son helped pull her out of the damaged vehicle. The guy himself also suffered, after which doctors even temporarily banned him from playing sports.
His coach Vladimir Strelchenko called his ward “a very promising athlete” on whom he always “bet big.” The teenager was involved in pankration and MMA, and repeatedly received prizes in competitions.
However, after the new shelling, he will face long-term treatment and rehabilitation.
Context
April 13, 2025, Palm Sunday, Russian occupiers hit with two ballistic missiles in the center of Sumy.
Kirill Budanov, who then headed The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported that the enemy struck Sumy from the territory of the Voronezh (Liski settlement) and Kursk (Lezhenki settlement) regions of the Russian Federation, using two ballistic missiles of the Iskander-M and KN-23 (North Korean) types.
According to the head of the Sumy city military administration, Sergei Krivosheenko, civilian casualties were caused by a second strike on Sumy, which occurred approximately 200 m from the site of the first hit. The official clarified that the Russians used a missile, probably filled with fragmentation elements.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced a “tough response” to the occupiers. On the night of April 15, defense forces struck the location of the 448th missile brigade of the army of the aggressor country in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, which attacked Sumy on Palm Sunday.
The mayor of Konotop, Artem Semenikhin, accused Vladimir Artyukh, who was then the head of the Sumy OVA, of involvement in the strike, because he allegedly agreed to hold an event in Sumy at which the military of the 117th separate territorial defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was awarded.
