Russian missiles hit Ukrainian city of Sumy while Palm Sunday celebrations were underway

Russian missiles struck the heart of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy as people were gathering to celebrate Palm Sunday. At least 34 people were killed in the second large-scale attack in Ukraine to claim civilian lives in just over a week.

Officials said two ballistic missiles hit around 10:15 a.m. local time. Images from the scene showed lines of black body bags on the side of the road while more bodies were seen wrapped in foil blankets among the debris.

The dead included two children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a statement. Some 117 people were wounded, including 15 children.

“Only filthy scum can act like this — taking the lives of ordinary people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. In a statement on social media, he said the first strike hit buildings belonging to a city university, while the second exploded above street level.

The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, said the strike also used cluster munitions in an attempt to kill as many people as possible. The Associated Press was unable to verify the claim.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered condolences to the victims of the “horrifying Russian missile attack on Sumy.”

“This is a tragic reminder of why President Trump and his Administration are putting so much time and effort into trying to end this war and achieve a just and durable peace,” he said.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said the Sumy attack crossed “any line of decency” and that the White House remained committed to ending the conflict.

“There are scores of civilian dead and wounded. As a former military leader, I understand targeting, and this is wrong. It is why President Trump is working hard to end this war,” he said.

The attack on Sumy followed a deadly April 4 missile strike on Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih that killed at least 19 people, including nine children.

Zelenskyy called for a global response to the attack.

“Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and aerial bombs. What’s needed is an attitude toward Russia that a terrorist deserves,” he said.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, two women, ages 62 and 68, and a 48-year-old man were killed in Russian attacks on the Kherson region, local Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said. Another person was killed during Russian shelling on Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Gov. Vadym Filashkin said.

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said a Russian strike hit one of the city’s kindergartens, shattering windows and damaging the building’s facade. No casualties were reported.

The strikes come a day after Russia and Ukraine’s senior diplomats accused each other of violating a tentative U.S.-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, underscoring the challenges of negotiating an end to the three-year war.

The two countries’ foreign ministers spoke at separate events at the annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum a day after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss peace prospects.

“The Ukrainians have been attacking us from the very beginning, every passing day, maybe with two or three exceptions,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would provide the U.S., Turkey and international bodies with a list of Kyiv’s attacks during the past three weeks.

His Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, contested that claim, saying Saturday that Russia had launched almost 70 missiles, over 2,200 exploding drones and more than 6,000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, “mostly at civilians” since agreeing to the limited pause on strikes.