By Kavita Mistry 
Russia has “deliberately” bombed a major Indian-owned pharmaceutical warehouse in Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine announced in New Delhi on Sunday (April 13, 2025). The assertion from the Ukrainian side coincided with the 78th anniversary of India-Russia diplomatic ties marked by the Embassy of Russia on Sunday. The attack on Kusum Healthcare’s storehouse in Kyiv showed the “all out” nature of the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has escalated in recent weeks, a Ukraine-based representative of Kusum Healthcare told The Hindu.
“Today [Sunday], a Russian missile struck the warehouse of Indian pharmaceutical company Kusum in Ukraine. While claiming ‘special friendship’ with India, Moscow deliberately targets Indian businesses — destroying medicines meant for children and the elderly,” the Embassy of Ukraine in India said in a message.
Akhilendra Mall, the Kusum Healthcare representative based in the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, told The Hindu over phone that the warehouse in Kyiv that had been destroyed in the early hours of Saturday was the company’s central warehouse in Ukraine, apart from a smaller warehouse that the company owned in the outskirts of Kyiv.
“The main warehouse has been completely destroyed. We are yet to evaluate the total loss. There is heavy Russian bombing taking place in different locations of Ukraine at the moment and it will take some time before the company can determine the scale of the destruction,” Mr. Mall said over a phone call.
Kusum Healthcare owns a factory in Sumy where the company manufactures medicines for the Ukrainian market.
“Our factory in Sumy is fully operational as of now, despite the heavy conflict taking place here. Apart from the factory and storage facilities, we have marketing presence across Ukraine,” Mr. Mall said, providing the scale of the company’s presence in conflict-hit Ukraine.
There were around 20,000 Indian professionals and students in Ukraine at the beginning of the war in February 2022. “I am the only Indian professional left in the city of Sumy, which used to have many Indians before,” Mr. Mall said, presenting a snapshot of the conflict. He said a handful of Indian students have continued to live in the city despite the conflict as they were trying to finish their academic courses. “Sumy is particularly vulnerable. Sometimes there’s no time left to run to the bomb shelters as the city is located merely 25 km from the border with Russia,” Mr. Mall said.
The bombing from the Russian side is accompanied by firing by tank shells as well as drone warfare. Mr. Mall, who represents Kusum Healthcare, has been based in Ukraine for 17 years. He said the attack on the Indian medicine storehouse showed the intensity of the current state of the war. “This is really an all out war on the ground. There are at least 200 rockets that are landing in Sumy throughout the day. Similar is the situation in other prominent cities, including Kyiv,” Mr. Mall said, explaining that he is the only Indian in Kusum’s factory in Sumy at the moment, adding, “The rest of the employees in the facility are all local Ukrainians.”
The announcement of the attack by the Ukrainian side coincided with the 78th anniversary of the Russia-India diplomatic relations on April 13. Moscow established its diplomatic relationship with India on April 13, 1947, four months before India attained Independence. To mark the anniversary, the Russian Embassy organised a Russia-India cycling rally on Sunday. The rally also marked the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union in World War II, the Russian Embassy said in a press note.
The Russian Embassy has not yet responded to questions from The Hindu regarding the bombing of the pharmaceutical warehouse in Kyiv.
Published – April 13, 2025 05:22 pm IST