Ukraine: Russian strike on Palm Sunday on city center of Sumy kills 34

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on April 13, 2025, a Ukrainian rescuer works to extinguish a fire at the site of a missile attack in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. | Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP

SUMY, Ukraine — A Russian missile strike on Sunday in the city centre of Ukraine’s city of Sumy killed at least 34 people, Kyiv said, with European and US officials condemning the attack — one of the deadliest in months.

Kyiv said Moscow hit the northeastern city, close to the Russian border, with two ballistic missiles on Sunday morning and that the attack also wounded nearly 120 people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, stressing that the attack occurred on Palm Sunday, said: “Only bastards do this.”

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US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg, said on X that the attack by Russian forces on civilian targets “crosses any line of decency”.

The strike came two days after US envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and push Trump’s efforts to end the war.

The local emergency service in its latest bulletin that 34 people died, including two children, and 117 were wounded, including 15 children.

That revised upwards a previous toll of 32 dead and 99 wounded.

Bodies were seen covered in silver sheets at the scene of the strike in the centre of the city, with a destroyed trolleybus. Rescuers worked through the rubble of a building.

The head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said on Telegram that Russia used two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles on Sumy.

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Ukrainian law enforcement officers work at the site of a missile attack in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, on April 13, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 31 people and wounded 84 on Palm Sunday, Kyiv said, in another deadly attack on civilians that came after a top US official travelled to Russia. (Photo by Oleg VORONENKO / AFP)

‘A lot of corpses’

One woman told AFP she heard two explosions.

“A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,” she said, struggling to speak.

It was the second Russian attack this month to cause a large civilian death toll.

Trump has previously voiced anger at Moscow for “bombing like crazy” in Ukraine.

Zelensky called on the United States and Europe to give a “strong response” to Russia, adding: “Talking has never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs.”

French leader Emmanuel Macron said the strike showed Russia’s “blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the attack, which Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni described as a “cowardly” act by Russia.

The fact the bloodshed fell on Palm Sunday outraged several leaders.

It was “a barbaric attack, made even more vile as people gathered peacefully to celebrate Palm Sunday,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.

“The Russian version of a ceasefire. Bloody Palm Sunday,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, while Danish leader Mette Frederiksen said the “missile attack on civilians gathered on Palm Sunday… shows Russia’s true face”.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the killing “as many people made their way to prayer on Palm Sunday” demonstrated that “Putin underscores with blood that he seeks not peace but destruction”.

Dutch premier Dick Schoof urged more air defences “so that Ukraine can defend itself against this violence”.

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Relentless Russian offensive

Russia did not immediately comment on the strike. Moscow has refused a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine.

Local authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the ground.

Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks, extending the violence wrought by its all-out invasion that has gone on for more than three years.

In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children.

Sumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back many of Ukraine’s troops from its Kursk region inside Russia, across the border.

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

Russia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces.

On Sunday, Russia said it captured another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.