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

SUMY, Ukraine - Two Russian ballistic missiles slammed into the heart of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on April 13, killing 34 people and wounding 117 in the deadliest strike on Ukraine this year, officials said.

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

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 posted by Mr Zelensky on social media.

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

“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. I have no words,” said 27-year old PhD student Yevhen, a local resident who declined to give his surname.

The leaders of Britain, Germany and Italy condemned the attack.

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

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement expressed condolences for the victims and said the attack was a “tragic reminder of why President Trump and his Administration are putting so much time and effort into trying to end this war.”

Mr Zelensky, in an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes set to air on April 13, urged Mr Trump to visit Ukraine.

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

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

A separate Russian drone attack injured five people in the Black Sea port city of Odesa late on April 13 and damaged a medical facility, regional officials said.

The April 13 attacks followed a missile strike in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, Mr Zelenskiy’s hometown and far from the ground war’s front lines in the east and south, earlier this month that killed 20 people, including nine children.

Sumy, with a population of around a quarter of a million and located just over 25km from the Russian border, became a garrison city when Kyiv’s forces launched an incursion into Russia last August that has since been largely repelled.

Sumy’s acting mayor, Artem Kobzar, announced three days of mourning for the victims starting from April 14.

The people who were caught in April 13’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.

Mr Andriy Yermak, Mr 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.

Ms 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 Ms 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 center, there is no military base, there are no soldiers here,” Mr Manakhov said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently holds nearly 20 per cent of the neighbouring country’s territory in the east and south. Russian forces have been slowly advancing in the east.

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 US 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 April 13, Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of having carried out two attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the previous day.

Mr Witkoff, Mr Trump’s special envoy, held talks with Mr Putin on April 11 in St. Petersburg on the search for a Ukraine peace deal. Mr Trump told Russia to “get moving.” REUTERS

Mr Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said the missiles contained cluster munitions. “The Russians are doing this to kill as many civilians as possible,” he said.

Ms 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 Ms 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.”

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently holds nearly 20 per cent of the neighbouring country’s territory in the east and south. Russian forces have been slowly advancing in the east.

‘So-called diplomacy’

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.

Mr Andriy Kovalenko, a security official who runs Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, noted that the strike came

after a visit to Russia by US envoy Steve Witkoff

for talks with top officials including President Vladimir Putin.

“Russia is building all this so-called diplomacy ... around strikes on civilians,” he wrote on Telegram.

Under Mr 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.

Ukraine and Russia agreed to pause strikes on each other’s energy facilities last month, but both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratorium.

Mr Witkoff, Mr Trump’s special envoy, held talks with Putin on April 11 in St Petersburg on the search for a Ukraine peace deal. Mr Trump told Russia to

“get moving”

.

In the aftermath of April 13’s Sumy strike, Mr Zelensky called on the United States and Europe to respond robustly to what he described as Russian terrorism.

“Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war. Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible. Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and aerial bombs,” he wrote.

Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine on April 12 of having carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the previous day in what it called a violation of the US-brokered moratorium on such strikes. REUTERS