A Russian drone attack on a Sumy parking lot, followed by a ballistic missile strike on Palm Sunday, killed 34 civilians and injured 117. The attack occurred over two months after cease-fire talks began.
The Sumy City Council reported the civilian casualties, while Russia claimed to have targeted a military objective. The attack fueled skepticism about the ongoing cease-fire talks and raised concerns about a potential new Russian ground assault in the region. Sumy residents expressed their desire for peace while highlighting the daily reality of violence.
The article contrasts the stated goals of peace talks with the continued violence in Sumy, demonstrating the failure of the current negotiations to achieve a lasting ceasefire. The incident underscores the devastating humanitarian consequences of the war and the ongoing threats faced by Ukrainian civilians.
A gigantic, roiling cloud of black smoke swirled up from a parking lot of burning cars, as residents milled about on a sidewalk in distress, and police and fire vehicles careened past. Then the scene became more chaotic.
“Shelter! shelter!” a policeman yelled. A thin, buzzing noise, like a chain saw running in the distance, wafted down from the sky. Another Russian exploding drone, like the one that had just hit the parking lot, was flying overhead. People ran for cover.
“It’s like this every day,” said the mayor, Artem Kobzar, who had been visiting the site in Sumy, Ukraine, and dashed into the open doorway of an apartment building. “Everybody in Ukraine wants peace,” he said. “But you see, in Sumy, we don’t have a day or night of calm.”
That bombardment came on Monday, a day after two ballistic missiles struck a central neighborhood of the city on Palm Sunday shortly after 10 a.m., killing 34 civilians, including two children, and wounding another 117, according to the Sumy City Council. Russia said it had struck a military target; a Ukrainian regional governor said a military awards ceremony had taken place in the city that day.
The Palm Sunday bombardment came more than two months after President Trump started cease-fire talks with a phone call to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. And in recent days it has become an argument in Ukraine and elsewhere that those talks are failing. In Sumy, the attack has set off preparation for a possible new Russian ground assault in this region.
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