Poland’s foreign minister on Monday urged President Donald Trump to take steps to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued war in Ukraine following another deadly strike that killed 34, including two children, on Palm Sunday.
‘I just want to say how appalled I am by the latest spate of Russian attacks on Ukraine,’ Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters ahead of the European Union’s foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg.
‘Ukraine unconditionally agreed to a ceasefire over a month ago,’ Sikorski said. ‘The heinous attacks on Kryvyi Rih and Sumy are Russia’s mocking answer.’
Russia fired two ballistic missiles into Sumy’s city center Sunday, claiming it targeted a meeting of top Ukrainian military officials. The northeastern city lies about 30 miles from the Russian border. Moscow said 60 troops were killed but provided no evidence, and it remains unclear if any officials were among the 30 dead and 119 injured.
The attack came just over a week after Russia struck Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, in what was the deadliest strike against children since the war began in an attack near a playground that killed 19 people, including nine children.
‘I hope that President Trump and his administration see that the leader of Russia is mocking their goodwill and I hope the right decisions are taken,’ Sikorski told reporters Monday.
The attacks were met with a swift international rebuke from European leaders, with Germany’s chancellor-designate, Friedrich Merz, calling it a ‘serious war crime.’
Leaders from Lithuania made similar claims and summoned a Russian diplomat over the incident on Monday.
France’s foreign minister ahead of the top international talks called for tougher sanctions on Russia to ‘suffocate’ its economy and stop its war effort.
Trump similarly condemned the attacks as ‘terrible’ but said he ‘was told they made a mistake.’
‘But I think it’s a horrible thing,’ he added.
Russian forces over the last month have dropped 2,800 air bombs on Ukraine, fired more than 1,400 drones – including 62 Shahed drones Sunday night – and levied some 60 other missiles of various types, according to The Associated Press.