Russia ‘deliberately’ targeted Indian pharma company’s warehouse in Kyiv: Ukrainian Embassy

Russian bombing of Indian-owned pharmaceutical warehouse in Ukraine intensifies conflict, highlighting destruction and impact on Indian presence in Ukraine.

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.