SUMY
\nA Russian missile strike on Ukraine\u2019s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 32 people, including two children, and wounded dozens on Sunday, Kyiv said, in the deadliest attack in months.
\nEuropean leaders expressed indignation at Moscow\u2019s attack on Sumy\u2019s city center, while Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, pointed out it happened on Palm Sunday.
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron said it showed Russia\u2019s \u201cblatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President (Donald) Trump.\u201d
\nThe strike came two days after US envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and push Trump\u2019s efforts to end the war.
\nSumy lies close to the Russian border and has come under increasing attack for weeks.
\nThe local emergency service said on social media that the latest toll was that \u201c32 people died, including two children\u201d and that \u201c84 people were injured, including 10 children.\u201d
\nAn AFP reporter saw bodies covered in silver sheets strewn in the center of the city, with a destroyed trolleybus. Rescuers were seen working on the rubble of a building.
\nOne woman told AFP she heard two explosions.
\n\u201cThis second blow… A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,\u201d she said, struggling to speak.
\nIt was the second Russian attack with a large civilian death toll this month. Trump has voiced anger at Moscow for \u201cbombing like crazy\u201d in Ukraine.
\nUkrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow launched a ballistic missile on Sumy and called on the world to put pressure on Russia to end the three-year war.
\nHe called for a \u201cstrong response\u201d from Europe and the United States, saying: \u201cTalking has never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs.\u201d
\nHe added that the deadly attack occurred \u201con a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord\u2019s Entry into Jerusalem.\u201d
\nMacron said the Russian attack showed what \u201ceveryone knows: this war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it.\u201d
\nIn a statement on social media, he added: \u201cStrong measures are needed to impose a ceasefire on Russia. France is working tirelessly toward this goal, alongside its partners.\u201d
\nEuropean Council chief Antonio Costa condemned the \u201ccriminal attack,\u201d saying that \u201cthis war exists and endures only because Russia chooses so.\u201d
\nLocal authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the ground.
\nRussia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks, extending the violence wrought by its all-out invasion that has gone on for more than three years.
\nIn early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children.
\nRussia has refused a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire and been accused by Ukraine and its European allies of dragging out the war and seeking to stall efforts for peace negotiations.
\nSumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back many of Ukraine\u2019s troops from its Kursk region inside Russia, across the border.
\nThe eastern Ukrainian city so far has been spared the kind of fighting seen farther south, in the Donetsk region. But Kyiv for weeks has warned that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.
\nRussia in recent weeks has claimed the capture of a village in the Sumy region, for the first time since the early days of its 2022 invasion.
\nRussia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces.
\nMoscow has not yet commented on the strike. sOn Sunday, it said it captured another village in eastern Ukraine\u2019s Donetsk region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SUMY A Russian missile strike on Ukraine\u2019s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 32 people, including two children, and wounded dozens on Sunday, Kyiv said, in the deadliest attack in months. European leaders expressed indignation at Moscow\u2019s attack on Sumy\u2019s city center, while Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, pointed out it happened on Palm Sunday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-472308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n