At least 32 people have been killed in a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, officials say.
Two ballistic missiles struck the heart of the city about 10.15am (5.15pm AEST) as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, according to officials.
Images from the scene on official channels showed lines of black body bags lying on the side of the road, while more bodies were seen wrapped in foil blankets among the debris.
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Video footage also showed fire crews as they fought to extinguish the shells of burned-out cars among the rubble from damaged buildings.
At least 32 people were killed as a result of the attack, including two children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a statement. A further 99 people were injured, including seven children, it said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that rescue efforts were ongoing and said “dozens” had been killed in the double missile attack.
“According to preliminary information, dozens of civilians were killed and wounded. Only filthy scum can act like this — taking the lives of ordinary people,” he said.
The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, said that the strike had also used cluster munitions in an attempt to kill as many people as possible. The Associated Press was unable to verify the claim.
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.
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Other world leaders also condemned the attack, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying that the strike undermined Washington-led peace talks between the two sides.
“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,” he wrote in a statement.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, a 62-year-old woman was killed in Russian shelling on the Ukrainian city of Kherson, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said Sunday.
The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, also said Sunday that a Russian strike had hit one of the city’s kindergartens, shattering windows and damaging the building’s facade. No casualties were reported.
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The strike came 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-old 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 2200 (exploding) drones, and over 6000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, mostly at civilians”, since agreeing to the limited pause on strikes.
The attack on Sumy on Sunday was the second large-scale attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week.
It followed a deadly missile strike on Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih on April 4 that killed some 20 people, including nine children.
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