By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The administration of U.S. President Donald J. Trump has expressed concern about Russia’s reported Palm Sunday missile strike that killed dozens of people in the Ukrainian northeastern city of Sumy.
“The United States extends our deepest condolences to the victims of today’s horrifying Russian missile attack on Sumy,” said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement sent to the Worthy News Europe Bureau in Budapest.
“This is 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 a just and durable peace,” he added.
Separately, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said the attack “crosses any line of decency.” “As a former military leader, I understand targeting, and this is wrong. It is why President Trump is working hard to end this war,” he wrote on social media platform X.
By late Sunday, at least 34 people were reported killed and more than 100 injured in the strike hitting Sumy’s center, one of the bloodiest attacks by Russia against civilians in recent months.
The attack happened while people were going to church for Palm Sunday, a crucial Christian holiday a week before Easter.
Two missiles landed in the crowded city center early Sunday morning, one hitting a trolley bus full of passengers, witnesses said.
BODIES IN STREET
Footage from the scene showed bodies lying in the street, burning cars, and rescuers carrying bloodied survivors. Two of the dead were children.
“My seven-year-old son was running for shelter when the second missile struck. The blast ripped off a door, which hit him in the leg. He has a bruise but is OK,” said Volodymyr Niankin, a film director, in published remarks. “My son said this is the most terrible day of his life.”
Niankin said he saw bodies on the ground. “Many of the people who died were sitting on the bus or walking in the road. A lot of people were out and about because it was a religious festival. I think this is genocide.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there were “dozens of dead and wounded civilians.”
He accused Russia of carrying out an act of deliberate terror, adding that a tough reaction was needed from the U.S., Europe, and the rest of the world.
“Enemy missiles hit an ordinary city street, ordinary life: houses, educational institutions, cars on the street … And this on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem,” he wrote on social media.
Zelenskyy said the Kremlin ignored a U.S. proposal for a complete and unconditional ceasefire. “Unfortunately, there in Moscow, they are convinced they can keep killing with impunity. Action is needed to change this situation,” he stressed.
ST. PETERSBURG TALKS
Residents agreed. Reporters noticed that Ukrainians contrasted images of bodies in Sumy with photos of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, “warmly shaking” hands with Putin on Friday. The two held four hours of talks in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.
Yet Trump has said he is “p….. off” at Russia’s ongoing bombing. However, critics say he has not taken any concrete measures against Moscow so far.
Ukraine agreed to sign a 30-day ceasefire that Washington proposed a month ago. Yet since then, Russia has escalated its bombardment of Ukrainian cities, reportedly firing some 70 missiles and 2,200 drones.
Moscow has accused Kyiv of provocation. Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday that Ukraine had carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past day, a violation of a U.S.-brokered moratorium on such strikes.
Worthy News was unable to investigate these claims independently.
However, there was international outrage over Russia’s apparent response to the alleged attacks. Besides those killed in
Sunday’s strike said 117 people had been injured, including 15 children.
SECOND MAJOR STRIKE
The attack was the second major attack this month after some 20 people were killed in early April in Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, nearly half of them children.
Besides the U.S., other nations also confronted the Palm Sunday strike with
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying he was “appalled at Russia’s horrific attacks on civilians”. Russian President Vladimir Putin “must now agree to a full and immediate ceasefire without conditions,” he stressed.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron agreed on the “urgent need to impose a ceasefire on Russia.” “Everyone knows it is Russia alone that wants this war,” he stressed.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called the scenes from Sumy “heartbreaking and horrific.”
The EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarína Mathernová, described the strikes as a war crime. “Nothing seems to be sacred to the Russians – neither churches nor Ukrainian children,” she added.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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