At least 32 people were killed and nearly 100 injured in a Russian missile attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy today, Ukrainian officials reported a new death toll.
An earlier report said 24 people had died.
Two ballistic missiles hit the city center around 10.15:XNUMX a.m. as people gathered to celebrate the church holiday of Palm Sunday, officials said.
"Russia was targeting the city center with ballistic missiles, right at the moment when there were many people on the streets," the Ukrainian rescue service wrote on social media.
According to that source, the latest toll at 14 p.m. local time was 32 dead, including two children, and 84 injured, including ten children.
"People were hit in the middle of the street, in cars, public transport, houses," the emergency services said, adding that rescue operations were continuing.
Local authorities in Sumy released footage of bodies in the streets and people running for cover, cars on fire and wounded civilians on the ground.
"On this bright day, on the holiday of Palm Sunday, our community suffered a terrible tragedy. Unfortunately, we already know of more than 20 deaths," Acting Mayor Artem Kobzar said earlier in a statement posted on social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that a rescue operation was underway and that dozens of people had been killed in the missile attack. Zelensky called for a global response to the attack, and pressure on Russia to stop the war.
"Negotiations have never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs. What is needed is the attitude towards Russia that a terrorist deserves," Zelensky said. He accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of ignoring a US proposal for a complete and unconditional ceasefire.
The head of Ukraine's military intelligence service (GUR), Kirill Budanov, said on social media that Russia had used "two Iskander-M/KN-223 ballistic missiles."
He accused the 112th and 448th Russian Missile Brigades of carrying out the strikes and called for the punishment of what he called "war criminals", both those who gave the orders and those who launched the missiles.
The attack came just a day after the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers accused each other of violating a US-brokered agreement to pause attacks on energy infrastructure.
The two countries' foreign ministers spoke at separate events at the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya, Turkey, a day after US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The attack came two days after a meeting in St. Petersburg between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin. And despite US President Donald Trump's public outcry this month against Moscow for bombing Ukraine "like crazy."
Russia has been attacking Ukraine non-stop in recent weeks, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to end the conflict.
In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Krivoy Rog killed 18 people, including nine children, shocking the entire country.
Sumy is close to the Russian border and has been under increasing military pressure since Moscow pushed out a large portion of Ukrainian troops from the neighboring Russian region of Kursk.
The city has so far been spared the intense fighting like that in the Donetsk region, but Kiev has been warning for weeks that Moscow could launch an offensive there.
Zelensky: Only scoundrels can behave like this
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said earlier that at least 21 people were killed and 83 wounded in the attack on Sumy, Reuters reported earlier today.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack - one of the deadliest strikes on Ukraine this year - and called for a strong international response against Moscow.
"Only scoundrels can behave like this. Taking the lives of ordinary people," he wrote on social media, alongside a gruesome video showing corpses on the ground, a destroyed bus and burnt-out cars on the street.
"And on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem," Zelensky said.
Klimenko said the victims of the attacks were on the street, in vehicles, public transport and buildings.
"Deliberate destruction of civilians on an important church holiday," he wrote.
Earlier, Sumy Mayor Artem Kobzar said that more than 20 people were killed in the Russian missile strike.
"Russians have hit the city of Sumy with missiles, killing civilians," Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote in a post on the social network X.
Reuters has sought comment from Russian authorities.
Andriy Kovalenko, a security official who heads the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, pointed out that the attack occurred after a visit to Russia by US envoy Steve Vitkoff.
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"Russia is building all this so-called diplomacy... around strikes on civilians," he wrote on Telegram.
Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Friday about the search for a Ukrainian peace agreement.
After today's attack, Zelensky called on the US and Europe to get tougher on Russia in response to what he described as terrorism.
"Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war. Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible. Negotiations have never stopped ballistic missiles and aerial bombs," he wrote.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently holds about 20 percent of the country's territory in the east and south. Russian forces have been making slow advances in the east recently, although missile and drone strikes now dominate the war.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that Ukraine had carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the previous day, which it said was a violation of a U.S.-brokered moratorium on such strikes.
Ukraine and Russia agreed to pause strikes on energy facilities last month, but both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the moratorium.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Russian forces had captured the village of Zhuravka in Ukraine's northern border region of Sumy, while Ukrainian officials did not confirm at the time that it had been captured.
Reuters reports that Moscow has long been carrying out air strikes on the Sumy region, which is located opposite the Russian Kursk region, from which Russia is trying to expel remaining Ukrainian forces eight months after they launched a cross-border incursion and seized large swaths of territory.
Ukrainian officials said there had been increased Russian military activity on their side of the border, but they did not acknowledge that Zhuravka had fallen into Russian hands.
Kalas: Heartbreaking scenes
The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kalas, announced that heartbreaking scenes were coming out of Sumy today.
"Heartbreaking scenes from Sumy this morning as residents gathered for the Flower Day holiday only to be greeted by Russian missiles. A horrific example of Russia's stepped-up attacks as Ukraine accepted an unconditional ceasefire," Kalas wrote on the X network.
She added that "her thoughts are with the people of Ukraine today."
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