Ukraine-Russia warfare newest: More than 20 civilians killed in Russian strike on Sumy

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia hit the centre of Sumy “on the day when people go to church – Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem.

“The United States, Europe, everyone in the world who wants an end to this war and murders. Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war. Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible,” Zelensky says.

He adds that “talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and air bombs”.

The president says the missile hit “an ordinary city street, ordinary life: houses, educational institutions, cars on the street” and that a rescue operation is now under way.

The president calls for “a tough reaction from the world”.

More than 20 people have been killed in a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, the city’s acting mayor has said.

Two ballistic missiles struck the heart of the city as local people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday.

“On this bright Palm Sunday, our community has suffered a terrible tragedy,” Artem Kobzar said in a statement on social media. “Unfortunately, we already know of more than 20 deaths.”

The strike comes less than a day after Russia and Ukraine’s top diplomats accused each other of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, underscoring the challenges of negotiating an end to the three-year war.

The acting mayor of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy said on Sunday that there were “many dead” after a Russian missile strike.

He did not immediately provide further details.

A Ukrainian F-16 Viper jet has been killed during a combat mission, Ukraine’s Air Force wrote on Telegram.

26-year-old Pavlo Ivanov is only the second confirmed F-16 loss that Ukraine has faced.

He died in battle on Saturday “defending his native land from the occupiers,” according to a translation.

“All the circumstances of the tragedy are being established by an interdepartmental commission,” Ukraine’s Air Force added.

President Voldymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram: “My condolences to the family and all of Pavel’s brothers-in-arms.

“Ukrainian F-16s, Mirages, MiGs, all of our combat aviation heroically perform military missions, defend our state and support ground operations.

“The Air Force is also involved in protecting Ukraine from Russian missiles and drones.

“We are proud of our warriors. We will respond strongly and correctly. Glory to Ukraine!”

Vladimir Putin’s forces have resumed a more typical strike pattern since late March following a brief spike in the size of Russian long-range strike “packages” which began in mid-February, analysts have said.

While Russian forces notably conducted no strikes against Ukraine on 7 April – the day after conducting their largest strike in over a month – they have since resumed daily strikes, while Russian officials have so far either “refused to engage with or have outright rejected” the US-Ukrainian temporary ceasefire on energy facilities proposed last month, the Institute for the Study of War said.

According to the think-tank, “Russian forces are likely delaying negotiations on a general ceasefire in order to continue making gains along the frontline in Ukraine and continue devastating long-range strikes against Ukrainian defence industrial and civilian areas in order to intimidate civilians and undermine Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against future Russian aggression”.

“Russians are trying to ban everything Ukrainian here: language, and also traditions. Even Ukrainian holidays are forbidden,” said one woman using the pseudonym of Maria, who is a member of an all-female underground resistance group waging a campaign of peaceful resistance against Russia’s occupation, mainly by distributing leaflets and newsletters.

The BBC reported that Ukrainians in occupied areas appear to be denied healthcare and free movement unless they take up Russian citizenship, while Maria said that Russian officials had been installing surveillance systems. She said: “They are putting up a lot of CCTV cameras to control everybody, to find all the activists.”

Maria added: “In city centres, everything is covered with Russian propaganda: billboards with Putin’s face, Putin’s quotes, people they call heroes of the special military operation. There are flags everywhere.”

Germany’s incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned that Ukraine cannot join Nato or the European Union while it is still at war with Russia.

“Ukraine is a very large European country, but it is a European country that is at war,” Mr Merz told Handelsblatt. “A country that is at war cannot become a member of Nato or the European Union.”

“The promise of joining the European Union remains valid, as does the perspective of joining Nato,” Merz said. “But for both of these to happen, the war must end first.”

Russia has suffered 1,220 casualties as 120 combat clashes were reported along the front line on Saturday, the general staff of Ukraine’s military has said.

In its daily update, Ukraine said Russia had launched 135 air strikes, while firing more than 6,600 artillery shells, and deploying more than 2,700 kamikaze drones.

Ukraine also said it had stopped more than 30 Russian attacks in the direction of Pokrovsk, the Donetsk city which remains the focus of Vladimir Putin’s forces and has fuelled the most intense fighting in recent months.