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Russia appeared to deny responsibility for the strikes on Sumy that killed 34 people and said that they only attack military-related targets.
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on April 13, 2025, shows a Ukrainian rescuer working at the site of a missile attack in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine. (IMAGE: AFP)
Russia declined responsibility for civilian deaths that happened due to the strikes on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday that killed 34 people and wounded dozens more. It accused the Ukrainian army of using civilians as “human shields” in Sumy and said that it struck an Ukrainian Army meeting.
The Kremlin said Monday that Russia’s army targets only military sites, a day after the missile strike as Ukrainian news agencies reported that loud explosions were heard in the city of Sumy on Monday morning (local time).
“Our army hits only military and military-related targets,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing when asked about the strike and comments by US President Donald Trump that Russia might have “made a mistake”.
Two ballistic missiles hit the centre of the northeastern city of Sumy, close to the Russian border, on Sunday morning, killing at least 34 people and wounding more than 100 others, Ukrainian authorities said.
The strike came two days after US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin and push Trump’s efforts to end the more than three-year war.
“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,” US President Trump told reporters on board Air Force One while headed back to Washington on Sunday evening.
People ran for cover amid burning cars and the dead were seen covered in silver sheets at the scene where rescuers worked through the rubble of a building near a destroyed trolleybus, news agency AFP said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 38 people are receiving treatment in medical facilities in Sumy.
“Currently, 38 people are receiving treatment in medical facilities in Sumy following yesterday’s Russian ballistic strike — among them, 9 children. 11 people, including 3 children, are in critical condition. Every effort is being made to provide them with maximum assistance. Yesterday’s strike alone claimed 34 lives and left 119 people injured. Tragically, 2 children were killed, and another 15 were wounded,” he said in a social media post.
