Russian missile strike kills 34 in Ukraine's Sumy, Kyiv says

Two Russian ballistic missiles slammed into the heart of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, killing 34 people and wounding 117 in the deadliest strike on Ukraine this year, officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded a tough international response against Moscow over the attack, which came with U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to rapidly end the war struggling to make a breakthrough.

The leaders of Britain, Germany and Italy condemned the attack. Trump, when asked about the Russian strike, said that it was terrible.

“And I was told they made a mistake,” he said without elaborating further. “But I think it’s a horrible thing.”

Dead bodies were strewn on the ground in the middle of a city street near a destroyed bus and burnt-out cars in a video Zelenskiy posted on social media.

“Only scoundrels can act like this, taking the lives of ordinary people,” Zelenskiy said, noting that the attack had come on Palm Sunday when some people were going to church.

Yevhen, a 27-year old PhD student and a resident who declined to give his surname, said he had no words for what happened.

“You know, the people who are fighting against us always say that they are Orthodox (Christian) believers, that they believe in God, but we have experienced first-hand terrorism today,” he said.

German leaders said the attacks showed how Russian President Vladimir Putin responds to ceasefire proposals.

“These attacks show just what Russia’s supposed readiness for peace is worth,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on social media.

Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz told broadcaster ARD the attack on Sumy was “clearly a war crime … There is no greater example of perfidy: a targeted and planned war crime”.

Zelenskiy, in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” aired on Sunday, urged Trump to visit Ukraine.

“Please come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children, destroyed or dead,” Zelenskiy said in a video clip the program posted on social media.

During the interview, which took place on Friday, Zelenskiy was asked if the United States had Ukraine’s back.

After a brief pause, Zelenskiy replied: “Even in this pause of mine, there’s a problem, because I want to answer truthfully and quickly that the United States is our strategic, strong partner,” he said.

“But the pause is doubt. I don’t doubt that the people of America are with us, but in a long war, many details are forgotten.”

He called on the United States to provide forces as part of an international peacekeeping effort, specifically asking for Washington to help protect Ukrainian airspace with aircraft.

Under Trump’s administration, US officials have held separate rounds of talks with Kremlin and Kyiv officials to try to move towards a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.

Russian authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Russia denies targeting civilians but thousands have been killed and injured since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A separate Russian drone attack injured five people in the Black Sea port city of Odesa late on Sunday and damaged a medical facility, regional officials said.

The Sunday attacks followed a missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskiy’s hometown and far from the ground war’s front lines in the east and south, this month that killed 20 people, including nine children.

Sumy, with a population of around a quarter of a million and located just over 25 km (15 miles) from the Russian border, became a garrison city when Kyiv’s forces launched an incursion into Russia in August.

Read more: Russia launches scores of drones on Ukraine, four people injured, Kyiv says

Sumy’s acting mayor, Artem Kobzar, announced three days of mourning for the victims starting from Monday.

The people who were caught in Sunday’s strike were out on the street or inside cars, public transport and buildings when the missiles hit, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

“Deliberate destruction of civilians on an important church feast day,” he wrote.
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said the missiles contained cluster munitions. “The Russians are doing this to kill as many civilians as possible,” he said.

INFORMATION LEAK?

Maryana Bezuhla, an outspoken Ukrainian lawmaker known for her sharp public criticism of military commanders, suggested on the Telegram app that the attack had taken place due to information about a gathering of soldiers leaking out.

Reuters was not able to verify that information, and Bezuhla did not post evidence.
Local resident Pavriz Manakhov told Reuters that he had not seen soldiers in the area.
“We live in the city centre, there is no military base, there are no soldiers here,” Manakhov said.

Russia currently holds nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory in the east and south, and its forces have been slowly advancing in the east.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv was “sharing detailed information about this war crime with all of our partners and international institutions.”

The International Criminal Court in The Hague, which Ukraine officially joined this year, is conducting investigations into high-profile cases of alleged war crimes in the conflict.

The U.S. in late March said it reached agreement with Russia and Ukraine on two ceasefire accords, including one that would ban strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratoriums.

On Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of having carried out two attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the previous day.

Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, held talks with Putin on Friday in St. Petersburg on the search for a Ukraine peace deal. Trump told Russia to “get moving.”