Russia Launches Deadly Attack on Sumy in Ukraine

Russian missile strikes killed at least 21 people on Sunday in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, local officials said — the latest in a string of attacks on urban centers that have caused heavy civilian casualties.

Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said Russia attacked the center of Sumy with ballistic missiles when the streets were crowded with civilians out enjoying Palm Sunday, a Christian celebration popular in Ukraine. At least 20 people were injured, Mr. Klymenko added.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine posted a video on social media that he said showed the aftermath of the attack in Sumy, just 18 miles from the Russian border. The video showed cars smashed and burned, as well asbloodied bodies laying motionless on the streets. Firefighters and civilians tended to the wounded as screams echoed in the background.

“A strong reaction from the world is needed. From the United States, from Europe, from everyone in the world who wants this war and the killings to end,” Mr. Zelensky said in a message posted on Telegram. “Russia seeks exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out the war.”

The strikes came about a week after a Russian missile hit near a playground in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, killing 19 people, including nine children.

The United Nations said last week that 164 civilians were killed in Ukraine last month — a 50 percent increase from February and 70 percent more than the same period a year earlier.

Ukrainian officials say the attacks show that Russia is not actually interested in a cease-fire, despite efforts by the Trump administration to broker one.

The foreign minister of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, said on Saturday that since cease-fire talks began last month in Saudi Arabia, Russia “only escalated its attacks on Ukrainian civilian objects and increased missile terror, including strikes on energy facilities.”

“This is Russia’s response to all peace proposals,” Mr. Sybiha told the state news agency Ukrinform. “They delay, manipulate, and play with their partners to continue aggression.”