Zelensky says 'dozens of dead and wounded' in Russian strike

KYIV, Ukraine: A Russian ballistic missile attack on the centre of Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy on Sunday left “dozens of dead and wounded”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“A terrible Russian ballistic missile strike on Sumy… According to preliminary data, there are dozens of dead and wounded civilians,” Zelensky said on social media, adding: “And this is on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday… Only bastards can do this.”

Ukrainian officials on Sunday said there were “many dead” after a Russian missile strike on the northeastern city of Sumy, which has come under intense attack from Moscow’s forces in recent weeks.

Sumy lies close to the Russian border and has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back much of Ukraine’s troops from its Kursk region across the border.

“Many dead today as a result of a missile strike,” the acting mayor of Sumy, Artem Kobzar, said on social media, adding that “the enemy has struck civilians again”.

Unverified images on social media showed burnt-out cars and plumes of smoke rising into the air.

Sumy lies some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border.

Kyiv has warned for weeks that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.

Last month Russia claimed the capture of a village in the Sumy region for the first time since the early days of its 2022 invasion.