Among the victims of the strike, that comes amid international diplomatic efforts to achieving a ceasefire, were two children, with emergency services reporting that 117 people were wounded, including 15 kids. Eight people were said to be in critical condition.
US President Donald Trump responded to the attack during a media interaction aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington on Sunday and said, “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,” Donald Trump said. When pressed to clarify the term “mistake,” Trump replied, “They made a mistake… you’re gonna ask them,” without specifying further.
Zelensky asks Trump to visit Ukraine, see war devastation
The strike came just two days after Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to broker an end to the three-year-long conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attack as “horrifying” and a “tragic reminder of why President Trump and his administration are putting so much time and effort into trying to end this war and achieve durable peace.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Donald Trump to witness the war’s devastation firsthand. “Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” he said in an interview aired on CBS.
‘Deranged scum’
In his evening address, Zelensky pointed to the symbolic gravity of the Russian strike occurring on Palm Sunday, a major Christian holiday, stating: “Only completely deranged scum can do something like this.”
The Russian attack damaged 20 buildings in Sumy, including five apartment complexes, a university, local cafes and shops, as well as the district court. Emergency responders worked through rubble near a destroyed trolleybus, with witnesses describing scenes of chaos and destruction. “A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,” news agency AFP quoted a witness as saying.
The United Nations also weighed in, with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “deeply alarmed and shocked” by the strike. His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the incident reflected “a devastating pattern of similar assaults on Ukrainian cities and towns in recent weeks.”
Ukraine’s military intelligence head, Kyrylo Budanov, confirmed that Russia had used two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles in the attack.
The latest attack becomes the second high-casualty Russian strike on Ukraine this month. Earlier, an attack on Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children.
France President Emmanuel Macron called the Sumy attack proof of Russia’s “blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled,” while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced the strike as a “cowardly” act. Germany’s incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz termed the attack “a serious war crime, deliberate and intended.”
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