Russia said two of its missiles hit a meeting of Ukrainian military officers on Sunday in the city of Sumy, while Ukraine called the attack a deliberate targeting of civilians.
Local prosecutors in the northern Ukrainian city said yesterday that the death toll had risen to 35, with 117 people injured.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine used civilians as "human shields" by setting up military facilities and organizing events with military personnel in the center of a densely populated city.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha said that the attacks on Sumy and Kryvyi Rih show that Vladimir Putin wants the war to continue, not end it.
The Russian statement said its forces fired “two Iskander-M tactical missiles at the meeting site” of what they described as an operational-tactical group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to Moscow, more than 60 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in that attack.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Kommersant that Ukrainian military leaders met in Sumy with “Western colleagues,” but he did not name any Western participants or provide evidence to support the claim.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday called for a strong international response to Moscow's attack, which comes as Donald Trump struggles to make progress on his promise to quickly end the war.
"Only scoundrels can act in this way, taking the lives of ordinary people," Zelensky said.
The leaders of Britain, Germany and Italy condemned the attack. Trump, asked about the Russian attack, said it was terrible. “I was told they made a mistake,” he said, without elaborating. “But I think it’s a terrible thing.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said the attack on Sumy showed the urgent need to impose a ceasefire on Russia, while Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Putin was mocking the goodwill of Trump and his administration.
Bonus video:
