Officers from around the globe condemned Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, because the Ukrainian metropolis of Sumy continued to sift by way of the wreckage brought on by Russian a missile strike that left a minimum of 34 individuals lifeless.
Ukraine’s state emergency service stated two kids had been amongst these killed within the April 13 assault when Ukrainians had been marking Palm Sunday, whereas a minimum of 117 others — together with 15 kids — had been injured.
The assault prompted European officers to accuse Russia of committing a conflict crime, whereas US officers from President Donald Trump to a number of Republican and Democratic Celebration lawmakers expressed horror on the demise and destruction brought about within the second main assault to kill civilians in 10 days.
In an interview that aired late on April 13 on the US information program 60 Minutes, Zelenskyy, who was talking earlier than the newest assault had occurred, urged President Donald Trump to go to Ukraine to see first hand what Russia was doing to his nation whilst the 2 sides speak with Washington a few cease-fire.
“However please, earlier than any sort of choices, any sort of types of negotiations, come to see individuals, civilians, warriors, hospitals, church buildings, kids destroyed or lifeless,” Zelenskyy stated.
“You’ll perceive what Putin did.”
The Kremlin denied that the 2 assaults focused civilian infrastructure. Russia has all through the conflict persistently rejected allegations of intentionally placing civilian targets in Ukraine, though repeated assaults on hospitals, colleges, vitality services, and residential buildings removed from any army objects have been documented.
Trump, who has made ending the conflict a high international coverage precedence since taking workplace lower than three months in the past, known as the Russian strike on Sumy a “horrible factor.”
“I believe it was horrible. And I used to be informed they made a mistake. However I believe it is a horrible factor. I believe the entire conflict is a horrible factor,” he informed reporters aboard Air Drive One on April 13 as he traveled to Washington from Florida, though he did not specify what he meant by “made a mistake.”
Russia Focused Crowded Middle of Sumy
An RFE/RL correspondent who arrived in Sumy not lengthy after the assault stated it occurred “in a really crowded place — the middle of the town” at a time when many Ukrainians would have been going to church for Palm Sunday.
“Folks stroll there with their kids,” Alyona Yatsyna added. “There are some cafes. All of the automobiles on the road, together with public transport — an entire bus burned to the bottom. There’s a number of destruction. Lots of people had been killed.”
The top of Ukrainian army intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, stated on Telegram that two Iskander-M / KN-23 ballistic missiles had been launched at Sumy from Russia’s Voronezh and Kursk areas.
As crews started to wash up particles the day after the assault, locals laid flowers to recollect the victims. “It is an enormous tragedy,” stated Serhiy Pask, the mayor of Mykolayivka, a village simply north of Sumy. “Sadly, it is occurring each day.”
International Leaders Condemn Putin Over Sumy Strike
“That is the peak of [Putin’s] perfidy,” Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, informed public broadcaster ARD on April 14.
“It was a deliberate and calculated conflict crime.”
Merz, the 69-year-old chief of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), reiterated his constant help for supplying long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, stressing that such a transfer needs to be made in shut coordination with European allies.
“European companions are already supplying cruise missiles,” he stated. “The British are doing it, the French are doing it, and the People are doing it anyway. It must be coordinated, and whether it is coordinated, then Germany needs to be a part of it,” he added.
He additionally pointed to Crimea as a possible goal for Ukraine’s long-range strikes. “One instance can be to destroy crucial land hyperlink between Russia and Crimea,” Merz added, noting its strategic significance for Russian army logistics.
When questioned concerning the Sumy assault, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on April 14 stated Russia’s army targets solely “army and military-linked targets.”
On the information briefing, Peskov additionally condemned Merz’s proposal on provides of Taurus long-range missiles, warning that such a transfer “will solely result in an extra escalation” of the battle.
The European Union’s high diplomat, Kaja Kallas, stated on April 14 in Luxembourg that “all those that need the killing to cease ought to put the utmost strain” doable on Russia to comply with a peace plan.
“We’ve got to place the strain, the utmost strain, on Russia to actually finish this conflict, as a result of it takes two to need peace,” Kallas stated as she arrived at a gathering of European Union international ministers.
UN chief Antonio Guterres, in the meantime, was “deeply alarmed and shocked” by the assault in Sumy, his spokesman said, saying it “continues a devastating sample of comparable assaults on Ukrainian cities and cities in current weeks.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio known as it a “horrifying Russian missile assault,” whereas Trump’s particular envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, stated the “Palm Sunday assault by Russian forces on civilian targets in Sumy crosses any line of decency.”
Trump has signaled impatience with the tempo of negotiations to cement a cease-fire in Ukraine. His administration continues to have interaction in direct talks with Russian officers as a part of a wider deal aimed toward rebuilding bilateral relations.
White Home envoy Steve Witkoff flew to St. Petersburg, Russia, to fulfill with Putin for greater than 4 hours of talks on April 12. Neither Witkoff nor the White Home issued any public remark after the assembly, although the Kremlin stated “elements of a Ukrainian settlement” had been mentioned.
“Whereas Ukraine has accepted President Trump’s ceasefire proposal, Putin continues to indicate he’s extra all in favour of bloodshed than in peace. Focusing on harmless civilians as they collect to worship on Palm Sunday is past the pale,” Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, chairman of the Home Committee on Overseas Affairs, stated in a put up on X.
Russia and Ukraine individually agreed with america final month at talks in Saudi Arabia to halt strikes on vitality infrastructure and at sea in what gave the impression to be an necessary step towards a full cease-fire. Within the meantime, Russia has continued to strike civilian infrastructure.
“I don’t see any hope for an actual cease-fire so long as Russia just isn’t below strain to adjust to it. All of the strain has been on Ukraine. I’ve seen no strain from the U.S. administration on Russia,” retired U.S. Lieutenant Normal Ben Hodges, who commanded U.S. Military forces in Europe from 2014 and 2017, informed RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
‘Russia Is Focusing on Civilians’
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of workers, claimed the missiles contained cluster munitions.
“The Russians are doing this to kill as many civilians as doable,” he stated, based on Reuters.
Zelenskyy’s condemnation of the assault got here after a Russian strike on the town of Kryviy Rih killed 20 individuals, together with 9 kids, simply over every week earlier.
Maia Sandu, president of Ukraine’s southwestern neighbor Moldova, was fast to supply her condolences, too.
“Palm Sunday is a day of peace. This morning, as individuals gathered to wish, Russia bombed Sumy — killing and injuring civilians,” she stated on X. “Moldova mourns with Ukraine and urges extra air protection to save lots of lives. The aggressor should be held accountable. There isn’t a justification for such evil.”
There was no remark but from the Kremlin on the reported strike.
The UN reported late final month that a minimum of 413 civilians had been killed within the battle for the reason that starting of 2025. It additionally stated that greater than 2,000 individuals had been injured in Ukraine attributable to Russian aggression within the first three months of the yr, a rise of 30 p.c in comparison with the identical interval in 2024.
Ukrainian Overseas Minister Andriy Sybiha stated: “For the second month in a row, Russia has refused to simply accept the US proposal for a full cease-fire, which Ukraine unconditionally accepted on March 11. As an alternative, Russia ramps up its terror.”
“We urge companions to offer Ukraine with further air protection capabilities and enhance strain on Moscow. Power is the one language they’ll perceive and the one approach to put an finish to the horrific terror.”
Elsewhere on April 13, the Turkish Protection Ministry stated it can maintain a gathering on Black Sea safety on April 15–16, based on TASS, though Ukrainian officers stated such a session had not but been scheduled.
The assembly would happen within the context of a doable cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine. Army representatives from international nations will participate, the Russian information company reported.