Russian ballistic missile strike on Sumy kills 21, says Ukraine

(Forelines) – Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s interior minister stated that around 21 people were killed and 83 others were injured by a Russian ballistic missile attack in Sumy the heart of the northern Ukrainian city on Sunday morning, reported by Reuters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticised the strike – one of the most lethal attacks on Ukraine this year – and urged for a strong international response against Moscow.

“Only scoundrels can act like this. Taking the lives of ordinary people,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted on social media, in line with a chilling video which indicated corpses on the ground, a ruined bus and burnt-out cars in the middle of city street.

“And this is on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem,” stated by President Zelenskiy.

Klymenko, Interior minister stated that the victims were on the street, in vehicles, public transport and in buildings when the attack blow.

“Deliberate destruction of civilians on an important church feast day,” he further said.

Reuters was looking for response from Russian officials.

Andriy Kovalenko, a security authority who runs Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, reported that the attack came following a visit to Russia by United States envoy Steve Witkoff.

“Russia is building all this so-called diplomacy … around strikes on civilians,” Kovalenko post on Telegram.

United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, held negotiations with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Friday in St. Petersburg on the search for a Ukraine peace deal, as Donald Trump said Moscow to “get moving”.

According to Reuters, in the aftermath of Sunday’s attack, Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged on the United States and Europe to get strong on Russia in comment to what he called as 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,” as per Reuters report, citing Volodymyr Zelenskiy post on social media.

Moscow carried out a complete occupation of Ukraine in February 2022 and recently holds around 20% of the nations’s territory in the east and south. Russia’s forces have been gradually moving forward in the east of late, though missile and drone attacks now dominate the conflict.

According to the Russian defence ministry on Saturday that Ukraine had launched five strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure over the last day in what it urged a violation of a United States.- negotiated moratorium on such attacks.

Ukraine and Moscow accepted to halt attacks on each other’s energy facilities previous month, but both sides have frequently alleged each other of violating the moratorium.