Sumy [Ukraine], April Two Russian ballistic missiles slammed into the heart of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, killing 34 people and wounding 117 in the deadliest strike on Ukraine this year, officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded a tough international response against Moscow over the attack, which came with U.S. 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 Zelenskiy 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.
U.S. 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."
In the aftermath of Sunday's Sumy strike, Zelenskiy 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 Saturday of having carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the previous day in what it called a violation of the U.S.-brokered moratorium on such strikes.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation