London – A shot of Russian ballistic missiles on the Ukrainian city in the northeast of Sumy killed at least 31 people on Sunday morning, said emergency services, like many there on twigs.
“The enemy has again struck the civilian population,” wrote the interim mayor Artem Kobzar on Telegram. The Ukraine State Emergency Service said that at least 31 people – two children – had been confirmed, killed, 84 others injured. Two missiles hit the city center, the authorities said.
The Sumy municipal council said that the strike had struck several buildings, including residential buildings. “On this good day of the twigs Sunday, our community underwent a terrible tragedy,” wrote Kobzar.
Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office of Ukraine, said that the missiles used cluster ammunition, which spray smaller submunitions in the target area. “A cluster ammunition missile is something that the Russians do to kill as many civilians as possible,” wrote Yermak on Telegram. “The strike of the city of Sumy is a deliberate bombardment of civilians.”
This document photograph taken and published by the Sumy municipal council on April 13, 2025 shows local residents standing next to a fire car on the site of a missile attack in Sumy, in the northeast of Ukraine, April 13, 2025.
Handout / Ukraine Sumy City Council / AFP
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared on Telegram that the “terrible strike” had struck “an ordinary city, an ordinary life: houses, educational establishments, cars in the street”.
“And it’s a day when people go to the church: on Sunday branches, the feast of the Lord’s entrance to Jerusalem,” he added. “Only a scoundrel can act like this. Taking the lives of ordinary people. My condolences to parents and friends. A rescue operation is underway. All the necessary services work.”
“A difficult reaction from the world is necessary,” wrote Zelenskyy. “The United States, Europe, everyone in the world who wants to finish this war and murder. Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and causes this war. Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible.”
“Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and air bombs,” said Zelenskyy. “We need the kind of attitude towards Russia that a terrorist deserves.”
In this photograph of documentation taken and published by the Ukrainian emergency service on April 13, 2025, a Ukrainian rescuer endeavors to extinguish a fire on the site of a missile attack in Sumy, northeast of Ukraine, in the middle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Handout / Ukrainian / AFP emergency service
Natalia Popova of ABC News, Natalia Kushnir and Victoria Beaules contributed to this report.
