Missiles reach the city center in northern Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded a harsh international response against Moscow about the attack, which came with the efforts of US President Donald Trump to quickly end the war that struggled to make a breakthrough.

The leaders of Britain, Germany and Italy condemned the attack. Trump, when asked about the Russian strike, said it was terrible.

“And I was told that they made a mistake,” he said without further elaborating. “But I think it’s a horrible thing.”

The corpses were scattered on the floor in the middle of a city street, near a destroyed bus and burned cars in a video Zelenskiy posted on social media.

“Only rascals can act like this, leading the lives of ordinary people,” he said, noting that the attack arrived on Palm Sunday when some people were going to church.

Yevhen, a 27 -year -old doctoral student and a resident who refused to give his surname, said he had no words for what happened.

“You know, people who are fighting against us always say they are orthodox believers (Christians) who believe in God, but we experience terrorism firsthand today,” he said.

The German leaders said the attacks showed how Russian President Vladimir Putin responds to proposals to cease.

“These attacks show exactly the value of the alleged readiness for the peace of Russia,” wrote German chancellor Olaf Scholz on social media.

Chancellor-in-Waiting Friedrich Merz told the broadcaster that the Sumy attack was “clearly a war crime … There is no greater example of a perfidy: a targeted and planned war crime.”

Zelenskiy, in an interview with CBS News’ 60 minutes airs on Sunday, he urged Trump to visit Ukraine.

“Please see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children, destroyed or killed,” he said in a music video that the program published on social media.

During the interview, which took place on Friday, Zelenskiy was asked if the US had the back of Ukraine.

After a brief break, Zelenskiy replied, “Even in my break, there is a problem because I want to answer sincerely and quickly that the United States is our strategic and strong partner. But the break is doubt. I do not doubt the people of America are with us, but in a long war, many details are forgotten.”

He asked the United States to provide strength as part of an international peacekeeping effort, specifically asking Washington to help protect Ukrainian air space with aircraft.

Under Trump’s administration, US authorities have given separate lectures rounds with Kremlin and Kiev authorities to try to advance towards a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.

The Russian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for commentary from Reuters. Russia denies reaching civilians, but thousands have been killed and injured since it began its large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A separate russian drone attack injured five people in the Odesa Black Sea port town at the end of Sunday and damaged a medical installation, regional officials said.

Sunday’s attacks followed a missile strike in Kryvyi Rih’s central Ukrainian city in Zelenskiy’s hometown and away from the front lines of the East and South Ground War, this month that killed 20 people, including nine children.

Sumy, with a population of about 250,000 and located just over 25 km from Russia’s border, became a garrison city when Kiev’s forces launched a raid in Russia in August last year.

Sumy’s interim mayor, Artem Kobzar, announced three days of mourning by the victims from Monday.

People who were caught on Sunday’s strike were on the street or inside cars, public transportation and buildings when the missiles hit, the interior minister Ihor Klymenko said.

“Deliberate destruction of civilians on an important day of the church feast,” he wrote.

Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said the missiles contained cluster ammunition. “The Russians are doing this to kill as many civilians as possible,” he said.

Information leakage?

Maryana Bezuhla, a frank Ukrainian legislator known for her public criticism of military commanders, suggested in the Telegram app that the attack occurred due to information about a leaked soldiers meeting.

Reuters could not check this information, and Bezuhla did not publish evidence.

Pavriz Manakhov, local resident, told Reuters that she had not seen soldiers in the area.

“We live in the city center, there is no military base, there are no soldiers here.”

Russia currently has almost 20% of Ukraine territory in the east and southern, and its forces have slowly advanced in the east.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kiev was “sharing detailed information about this war crime with all our international partners and institutions.”

The International Criminal Court in The Hague, which Ukraine officially entered this year, is conducting investigations into cases of high profile of alleged war crimes in the conflict.

The US, in late March, said they reached an agreement with Russia and Ukraine in two cease agreements, including one that would prohibit attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure. Both sides were repeatedly accused of breaking the moratoriums.

On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of having carried out two attacks on Russian energy infrastructure the day before.

Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, made conversations with Putin on Friday in St. Petersburg, searching for a peace agreement in Ukraine. Trump told Russia to “get in.”