Vladimir Putin is mocking Donald Trump with his deadly attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, Poland’s top diplomat has claimed. Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radek Sikorski, described the attack as “Russia’s mocking answer” to Kyiv’s agreement to a ceasefire proposed by the Trump administration more than a month ago.
Mr Sikorski, speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, said: “I hope that President Trump, the US administration, see that the leader of Russia is mocking their goodwill, and I hope the right decisions are taken.” Ukrainian officials have said two ballistic missiles hit the centre of Sumy on Sunday, killing at least 34, including two children, and wounding 119. It was the second large-scale attack to claim civilian lives in Ukraine in just over a week. A missile strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih killed some 20 people, including nine children, on April 4.
Mr Zelensky has called for a global response to the attack, saying the first strike hit university buildings and the second exploded above street level. In a post on social media, he said: “Only real pressure on Russia can stop this. We need tangible sanctions against those sectors that finance the Russian killing machine.”
Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen noted the attack on Sumy came not long after Mr Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Steve Witkoff, was in Saint Petersburg for talks with Putin.
She said it demonstrated “Russia shows full disregard for the peace process, but also that Russia has zero regard for human life”.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack shows Putin has no intention of agreeing to a ceasefire. He called for the European Union to “take the toughest sanctions against Russia to suffocate its economy and prevent it from fuelling its war effort”.
The EU has imposed 16 rounds of sanctions on Russia and is working on a 17th, but the measures are getting harder to agree on because they also impact European economies.
Germany’s chancellor-designate, Friedrich Merz, described the Sumy attack as “a serious war crime”. He repeated past calls for Taurus long range missiles to be sent to Ukraine, a move current Chancellor Olaf Scholz opposes.
Lithuania’s top diplomat, Kestutis Budrys, repeated Kyiv’s unverified claim the Russian strike had used cluster munitions to target civilians, calling it “a war crime by definition”.
He said: “This is, once again, a humiliation to everyone who puts diplomatic efforts to stop this war and achieve at least a ceasefire for negotiations to begin/
“This is the time now for us to show not only our unity but also dedication,” he added. “Otherwise, we’re not functioning as an organisation (but) as separate countries.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia only strikes military targets. Russia’s Defence Ministry said the strike had targeted a gathering of senior military officers.
It accused Kyiv of using civilians as human shields by holding military meetings in the centre of Sumy. The ministry claimed to have killed more than 60 troops, but offered no evidence to support its claims.
Mr Trump said on Sunday he was trying to get the war stopped. He told reporters: “I think it was terrible and I was told they made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing.”