Ukraine: Trump calls Russia's Sumy attack 'horrible'

Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, told DW that Russia's Palm Sunday attack on Sumy — which killed over 30, including children — was "the second horrible attack within the last 10 days"; referring to an April 4, 2025, ballistic missile attack on President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rih that killed 20 people, including nine children.

Zhovkva said such attacks are proving deadly "because Ukraine lacks sufficient air defenses." 

Ballistic missiles can be only intercepted by air-defense systems like the US-Patriot missile, which Ukraine desperately needs. 

Kyiv has tirelessly lobbied the international community to provide this key defensive weapon.

Ukraine, said Zhovkva, "cannot defend these civilian cities when the ballistic missiles are attacking" because "they don't have any air defense" capable of intercepting Russian rockets.

Zhovkva suggested Russia used a cluster bomb in its Sunday attack, saying the missile used in Sumy exploded high over the heads of people, which is what caused so many casualties. 

Ukraine has accepted US-brokered proposals for a full ceasefire and Zhovkva said Russia's rejection of the plan and Moscow's continued deadly strikes are proof that "Russia wants to prolong the war."

Zhovkva called for the US to take stronger action. "It's high time for the US side to react, to react more strongly, to react maybe with more severe sanctions. I think the US side has enough leverage of pressure in different domains," he added. 

"We've heard several times from President Trump that he is irritated, he's dissatisfied, and he understands that sooner or later the reaction should be tougher." 

European leaders on Monday welcomed Germany's proposed policy shift on the issue of delivering Taurus long-range missiles to Kyiv, after chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz reiterated his support for such arms-systems assistance. 

Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz refused to deliver Taurus systems despite Ukrainian pleas, claiming he did not want to risk escalating the conflict. 

Merz, on the other hand, said the Ukrainian military needs to be able to "get ahead of the situation" and that any delivery of long-range missiles must be done in consultation with European partners. His statement coincided with a deadly Russian air attack that killed 34 people on Sunday.

Russia has dropped nearly 3,000 bombs and 60 missiles on Ukraine in April and launched over 1,400 drone attacks, according to officials. 

Speaking at an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said: "Of course every member state is giving what they can give. But I think the message is very clear, we need to do more so that Ukraine can defend itself and the civilians don't have to die."

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp noted the significance of the move by Germany, saying, "I think that would be a very important signal of where Europe stands."

Asked about the effect of Taurus deliveries on the situation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they would, "inevitably lead only to further escalation."

"Regrettably, European capitals aren't inclined to search for ways to launch peace talks and are inclined instead to keep provoking the continuation of the war" he added, while denying that Russia was targeting civilians in its daily missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Russian attacks Monday in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region killed four elderly people local officials said. The latest Russian attack comes a day after more than 30 people were killed on a strike in nearby Sumy. 

Governor Oleg Synegubov said Russian forces had shelled the town of Kupiansk, a rail hub. 

Elsewhere, Ukrainian officials said 11 people were wounded in an overnight drone barrage on the port city of Odessa. 

US President Donald Trump, who boasts of  his close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has long claimed he could easily end the war in Ukraine, called Sunday's strike, which killed 34 people at a church celebration, "a horrible thing." 

"I was told they made a big mistake," he said, without offering details.

"Only scoundrels can act like this, taking the lives of ordinary people," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, noting the attack took place on Palm Sunday as Christians attended church to mark the beginning of Holy Week.

Zelenskyy invited Trump to come to Ukraine to see the destruction that Russia's invasion has brought with his own eyes.

Trump has spent the last several weeks trying to get Putin to sit down and negotiate a ceasefire, to no avail. 

Zelenskyy has bent to Trump's will so far, for example, by continuing negotiations on US access to Ukrainian minerals. 

However, has not shied from publicly calling out what he says is Putin's cynical approach of continuing attacks while demanding ever more concessions.

On Monday, Trump again blamed Zelenskyy for "letting the war start" rather than placing blame on Putin, who launched the unprovoked, full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.

Zelenskyy on Monday called for a global response to the attack.

 "Only real pressure on Russia can stop this. We need tangible sanctions against those sectors that finance the Russian killing machine," he wrote Monday on social media.

Welcome to DW's Ukraine coverage. So far, the day's Ukraine news has been dominated by a deadly Russian attack that killed at least 34 people, including children, gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday in the northern city of Sumy. 

Condemnation of the attack — which Russia claims did not target civilians — has been unanimous across the West.

Germany's presumptive next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, was indignant, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of committing "a deliberate and calculated war crime."

Merz pointed out that the strike came in two waves to maximize damage with the second wave striking after emergency workers arrived to care for victims. 

"That is the response… that is what Putin does to those who talk of a ceasefire," said Merz, who called those in Germany calling for peace talks "naive."

At the same time he reiterated his support for the idea of supplying Kyiv with lang-range Taurus missiles as long as it was coordinated with European allies — noting that the UK, France and the US were already supplying similar weapons. 

World leaders were outraged by the attack, with the UN, UK, Poland and Italy among those forcefully denouncing it as "Russia's version of a ceasefire," and a "cowardly," "criminal" act.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack showed yet again that Putin is stalling on a US-led ceasefire proposal.

 "This Friday marked exactly one month since Russia spurned the US proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire. They are not afraid. That’s why they keep launching ballistic missiles. Only pressure — only decisive action — can change this."