AT LEAST 21 people been killed and dozens more wounded in a bloody Russian missile attack on the city centre of Sumy, north-east Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky branded Putin a “b***ard” for the timing of the attack, which came on the holy Palm Sunday.
AFPFire fighters struggled to battle the blaze[/caption]
ReutersAt least 20 people are known to have died in the devastating attack[/caption]
AFPA row of cars stand completely burnt out in the city centre[/caption]
Zelensky said: “A terrible Russian ballistic missile strike on Sumy.
“And this is on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday […] Only b***ards can do this.”
Casualty figures currently stand at 21 dead and 83 wounded.
At least five children are thought to be amongst the dead.
Grieving relatives were seen weeping over the bodies of their loved ones lying in the street.
The country’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiga condemned the attack as a “war crime”.
He said: “We are already sharing detailed information about this war crime with all our partners and international institutions.
“We call on all capitals and headquarters to respond decisively.
“For the second month in a row, Russia refuses to accept the US proposal for a complete ceasefire, which Ukraine unconditionally accepted on March 11.
“Instead, Russia is intensifying terror.”
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said: “The Russians hit the city of Sumy with missiles, killing civilians.”
Andriy Kovalenko, a disinformation security official, noted the strike’s timing after the visit of US envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow.
He said: “Russia is building all this so-called diplomacy […] around strikes on civilians.”
Witkoff held talks with Putin on Friday in St. Petersburg about the peace process, after Trump warned Russia to “get moving”.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said: “Sumy. Day off. A major religious holiday for Ukrainians is Palm Sunday.
“The day when Ukrainian families go to churches, walk around the city with their children.
“And it was on this day that Russia launched another missile strike on a peaceful city.”
Anatoliy Fedoruk, the mayor of Bucha – destroyed earlier in the war by Putin’s forces – said: “A racist missile hit right in the heart of Sumy. Dozens killed.
East2WestAn injured woman is comforted on the side of the street[/caption]
APBuildings were reduced to rubble by the blasts[/caption]
ReutersStructures were crumbled and wrecked in the attack[/caption]
“The city centre was turned into a bloody landscape. Continuous terror. They don’t stop.
“Another day when a terrorist state exists on the map. Each such strike is yet another proof: Russia is incapable of existing alongside the civilised world.
“Only pain, destruction, and death — that’s its essence.”
Russian state media claimed the attack targeted a “concentration of soldiers” in Sumy, but there was no evidence of a military presence.
Other outlets claimed the strike was staged by Ukrainian air defences.
The Palm Sunday attack comes a week on from Russian rocket strikes on Ukraine‘s capital Kyiv – which Zelensky said breached the naval ceasefire.
The Ukrainian president said the missiles were fired from Russian ships stationed in the Black Sea last Sunday after warning that Moscow was stepping up its aerial attacks.
Witkoff’s meeting with Putin on Friday reportedly lasted more than four hours, with the Kremlin reporting as focus on “aspects of Ukrainian settlement”.
It was the US envoy’s third head-to-head with Putin this year, but took place amid growing frustration from Trump over Russia’s delay tactics.
ReutersA bus was blown out by the force of the blasts[/caption]
East2WestCars burned in the city centre following the strike[/caption]
This street was littered with burning debrisEast2West
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