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A Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine's northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 31 people and wounded 84 on Palm Sunday, Kyiv said, in another deadly attack on civilians that came after a top U.S. official traveled to Russia.
Sumy lies some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Russian border and has come under increasing attack for weeks.
The strike hit Sumy's city center two days after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and despite U.S. President Donald Trump urging Moscow to end the war.
"People were injured right in the middle of the street, in cars, public transport, and in houses," Ukraine's state emergency service said as rescue operations were ongoing.
"As of 13:40 (1040GMT), 31 people were killed, including 2 children," the service said on social media, adding that "84 people were injured, including 10 children."
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky called for a "strong response" from Europe and the U.S.
"Enemy missiles hit an ordinary city street, an ordinary life: houses, educational institutions, cars on the street," he said on social media.
"And this is on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem."
He added: "Only bastards can do this."
Second deadly attack
"Talking has never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs," Zelensky said, two days after Witkoff held hours-long talks with Putin in St. Petersburg.
Local authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the floor.
The attack came despite Trump publicly voicing anger at Moscow this month for "bombing like crazy" in Ukraine and calling on it to "get moving" on ending the more than three-year-long war.
Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks.
In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rih killed 18 people, including nine children.
Sumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back much of Ukraine's troops from its Kursk region across the border.
The eastern city so far has been spared from the kind of fighting seen further south in the Donetsk region but Kyiv for weeks has warned that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.
Russia in recent weeks has claimed the capture of a village in the Sumy region for the first time since the early days of its 2022 invasion.
Russia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces.
Moscow has not yet commented on the strike.
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