U.S. President Donald Trump has described the Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, which killed 34 civilians and injured 119 more on Palm Sunday, as “a mistake”, while offering no further detail.
The comments were made aboard Air Force One as Trump responded to questions about the 13 April attack, which Ukrainian officials say was the deadliest this year.
“I think it was terrible. And I was told they made a mistake,” Trump said. “But I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing. I think, for that war to have started, is an abuse of power. This country would have never allowed that war to have started if I were president.”
When asked to clarify what he meant by “mistake”, Trump replied, “They made a mistake. I believe it was — look, you’re gonna ask them.”
The strike, which hit the city centre of Sumy in Ukraine’s northeast, came as civilians were marking Palm Sunday. According to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, the victims included people on the street, in cars, and inside buildings and public transport.
Ukrainian officials stated that two ballistic missiles carrying cluster munitions struck a busy urban area, and that there was no military target in the vicinity. Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians. Russian authorities have not yet commented, and no claim of accidental targeting has been issued.
Video footage shared by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media showed burnt-out vehicles and bodies strewn across the road near a destroyed bus. “Only scoundrels can act like this, taking the lives of ordinary people,” Zelenskyy said, highlighting that the attack occurred on a religious holiday.
Sumy’s acting mayor, Artem Kobzar, declared three days of mourning beginning Monday.
Ukrainian officials condemned the use of cluster munitions, which are banned under international treaties that Russia is not party to. Andriy Yermak, Chief of Staff to President Zelenskyy, said, “The Russians are doing this to kill as many civilians as possible.” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko described the attack as “deliberate destruction of civilians on an important church feast day.”
The missile strike follows recent diplomatic efforts led by Trump’s envoy, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, who has reportedly met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian officials in Oman. The White House has not released details of these discussions. “He had some very good meetings in the Middle East. And he also had good meetings having to do with Russia-Ukraine,” Trump said.
Asked about potential developments involving Iran, Trump stated: “We’re going to be talking very shortly. … I met with a different group of people on Iran, and we’ll be making a decision on Iran very quickly.”
President Zelenskyy has called for a stronger international response. Speaking to CBS News’ 60 Minutes in an interview conducted prior to the Sumy attack, he urged Trump to visit Ukraine: “Please come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children, destroyed or dead.”
He also called for the deployment of international peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, with particular emphasis on airspace protection. “I don’t doubt that the people of America are with us,” Zelenskyy said, “but in a long war, many details are forgotten.”
Western leaders condemned the Sumy attack. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it demonstrated the reality of Russia’s stance towards peace negotiations. “These attacks show just what Russia’s supposed readiness for peace is worth,” he wrote. Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz described the strike as a “targeted and planned war crime”. UK and Italian officials also issued public condemnations.
Sumy, a city of approximately 250,000 inhabitants, is situated roughly 25 km from the Russian border. It has served as a key defensive location for Ukrainian forces since Kyiv’s cross-border incursion into Russia in August 2024. Sunday’s attack follows an earlier strike this month on Kryvyi Rih, President Zelenskyy’s hometown, which killed 20 people, including nine children.
While Trump continues to claim that the conflict would not have occurred had he remained in office, critics point to ongoing ambiguity in his messaging on Russia. His assertion that the Sumy strike may have been a mistake has not been substantiated, and contrasts with Ukrainian and Western assessments that the attack was both intentional and aimed at civilians.
In a separate incident on the same day, a Russian drone strike in the southern port city of Odesa wounded eight people and damaged a medical facility, according to regional authorities.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded. Russia continues to deny targeting non-combatants. Sunday’s events mark the latest escalation in a conflict that shows little sign of resolution, despite ongoing diplomatic efforts from both official and informal channels.
