Russian strikes at civilian infrastructure in Sumy blasted out the windows in Kordon.Media office eight times in late 2025, the news website’s executive director Alyona Yatsyna reported to Olha Panfilova, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Sumy oblast.
Yatsyna says that the first strike was by a Molniya drone, which fell down outside in front of her office window. The explosion blasted out the glass. The attack occurred during the day, but there was no one in the office at the time: the journalists had gone to a nearby cafe.
The over 10 strikes that followed were by various types of drones (Lancet, Molniya, Cube); 8 of them resulted in damage to the office windows.
“Sometimes we had no time to replace the windows, sometimes the parts of the glass that had survived the previous blast would fall out. The panels that we used to board up the windows would also fly out. Now we have new windows with security film, so after some strikes they would just crack,” says Alyona Yatsyna.
The journalists worked for a while in an office with chipboard panels instead of glass, which made the work difficult.
Charity organisations and “Kordon’s friends” (the community supporting the news outlet) helped restore the office. For example, the humanitarian foundation Proliska delivered construction supplies, and the Baloo Foundation helped with the repairs.
The furniture in the office was also damaged: the team pulled out the fragments that had gotten stuck in some pieces and continue to use them. Kordon.Media has installed new windows at its own expense, but the team has applied for compensation, which is yet to arrive.
Alyona Yatsyna says that her team has a rule that says employees do not have to work in the office and can choose other places that they consider safer.
According to IMI, Russia has attacked the offices of Ukrainian media outlets at least 72 times since the start of the full-scale invasion, causing damage or complete destruction.
