The death toll in the Russian missile strike on Ukrainian city Sumy on Palm Sunday has reached 34.
Local officials said two ballistic missiles struck the heart of the city at around 10.30am local time as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday.
Images from the scene showed lines of black body bags lying on the side of the road, while more bodies wrapped in foil blankets lay among the debris. A further 117 people were wounded, including 15 children.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack accusing Russia of “blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts”.
Asking about the attack, US President Donald Trump suggested on Sunday evening that the missiles strikes may have been “a mistake”.
“I think it was terrible and I was told they made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing,” he told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington. He did not clarify whether he was saying the attack was unintentional.
US President Donald Trump speaks to the reporters on board Air Force One (Pool via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron said the strike undermines Washington-led peace talks between the two sides.
He said: “Everyone knows: This war was initiated by Russia alone, and today it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it – with blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump.”
Video footage also showed fire crews as they fought to extinguish the shells of burnt-out cars among the rubble from damaged buildings.
The attack on Sumy is the second large-scale attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week, following a deadly missile strike on Mr Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih on April 4 that killed some 20 people, including nine children.
The strike targeted the centre of Sumy on Sunday morning (AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed rescue efforts are ongoing and he said “dozens” had been killed in the double missile attack.
“According to preliminary information, dozens of civilians were killed and wounded,” he said.
“Only filthy scum can act like this – taking the lives of ordinary people.”
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.
Mr Zelensky called for a global response to the attack, adding: “Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and aerial bombs. What’s needed is an attitude toward Russia that a terrorist deserves.”
The city centre in the aftermath of Russia’s missile attack that killed at least 34 civilians in Sumy, Ukraine (AP)
Elsewhere in Ukraine, a 62-year-old woman was killed in Russian shelling on the city of Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
The mayor of the city of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said a Russian strike had hit a kindergarten, shattering windows and damaging the building’s facade. No casualties were reported.
It comes less than a day after Russia and Ukraine’s top diplomats accused each other of violating a tentative US-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 US 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 US, Turkey and international bodies with a list of Kyiv’s attacks during the past three weeks.
His Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, fiercely contested that claim, saying on Saturday that Russia had launched “almost 70 missiles, over 2,200 (exploding) drones, and over 6,000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, mostly at civilians,” since agreeing to the limited pause on strikes.