Ukraine just suffered its deadliest attack on civilians this year. Experts say it's part of a grim trend
On Sunday, at least 35 people were killed and more than 115 injured in ballistic missile strikes on Sumy
When Volodymyr Niankin rushed to the centre of Sumy to meet his wife and their seven-year-old son who made it to a shelter just moments before a missile exploded above, he described coming across a post-apocalyptic scene.
Bodies were scattered across the ground and cars were engulfed in flames, he said, after missiles slammed into a once-bustling area in Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine.
"People were shouting and crying near the dead," he told CBC News. "My son told me that is the worst day of his life…. It's the worst of my life, too."
At least 35 people were killed and more than 115 injured when two Russian ballistic missiles exploded near Sumy State University, as many were on their way to church for Palm Sunday.
Russia says it was targeting a meeting of military commanders in the city. But UN human rights experts say the latest attack is an "ugly indicator" of a disturbing trend they have been seeing since the beginning of the year: An increasing number of civilians are being killed, even as Washington has been trying to convince Russia to agree to a ceasefire.
'We understand that things are getting worse'
Niankin says the two missiles struck locations about 100 metres apart in Sumy, a city of about a quarter of a million people.
The first weapon hit a conference centre belonging to Sumy's state university, which was also where Niankin and his wife ran a small community theatre.
After the first missile struck, Niankin's wife had called him to say that she and their son were leaving a building nearby and heading to a shelter. While they were running there, the second missile exploded. The force of the blast blew a door off, which landed on their son's leg.
While the child was just bruised and not seriously injured, Niankin says he has been traumatized by the attack.
"Most of the people died after the second rocket because they were on the street."
Several were killed inside a trolley bus that was just passing by at the time that the second missile exploded.
"It's just terrible," he said to CBC News in an interview over Zoom.
"We understand that things are getting worse."
Increasing civilian casualties
According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, between January and March this year, more than 440 civilians were killed and over 2,200 injured, an increase of 47 per cent over the same period in 2024.
Less than halfway into April, experts say this grim pattern is continuing.
Nine days before the strikes in Sumy, 20 people were killed in the southern central city of Kryvyi Rih, when a ballistic missile slammed into a residential area, spraying shrapnel across a wide range, including a playground.
Nine children were killed in that attack, including a nine-year-old who was on a swing at the time.
"That attack had the highest number of children killed since the full-scale invasion," said Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
"The patterns and trends of harm that we're documenting are very worrying."
The attack on Sumy's city centre, which lies about 30 kilometres from the Russian border, came two days after Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg for talks that the Kremlin described as "extremely useful."
In a statement, Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had fired two Iskander-M tactical missiles at a meeting of military commanders. It claimed more than 60 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, though it didn't offer any evidence.
While U.S. President Donald Trump called the attack "terrible" — adding that he was told "they made a mistake" — he didn't elaborate when reporters pressed for more detail.
Later, on Monday, in comments made on social media and in the Oval Office, Trump questioned the Ukrainian president's competence, and accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of allowing the war to begin.
Many European leaders have condemned Russia's attack in Sumy. Germany's chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz called it a serious "war crime."
A city 30 kilometres from the frontline
Russia has attacked Sumy with missiles, drones and bombs before, particularly since August when Ukraine made its surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region.
Niankin says the weapons usually target military sites and those connected to electrical infrastructure. But this strike was the deadliest attack on civilians this year, according to Ukrainian officials.
The head of the Ukrainian president's office, Andriy Yermak, said the missiles were packed with cluster munitions designed to leave a more devastating wake.
Under international humanitarian law, an attack directed at a military object can be unlawful if there is an indiscriminate or disproportionate effect on civilians.
Experts with the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission are sending a team to Sumy to speak with victims and eyewitnesses and to collect evidence.
They try to do this after each civilian attack, Bell said. She says more civilians have been killed due to an "intensified use of long-range weapons," which in some cases have hit schools and apartment buildings.
"We have seen an increase in attacks that have affected medical facilities ... hospitals and clinics," said Bell.
More drones in Sumy
In Sumy, Niankin and his wife visited the rubble-strewn community theatre Sunday afternoon. The roof of the building was gone, and piles of bricks had collapsed onto what was once their stage. They salvaged what props and costumes they could find from the partially destroyed dressing room.
Niankin believes that some families living in the city may choose to move further west.
However, he says he won't, as he has an elderly grandmother in the city. He and his wife also believe it is important for them to stay so they continue to run drama programs for children in the city.
"For us, staying in Sumy is like a social mission," he said, but he doubted the city would get a reprieve.
After Sunday's tragedy, he thought that Monday might prove quieter, but he was quickly proven wrong.
"Shahed [drones] landed about one hour ago in part of the city," he said, referring to Iranian-designed drones that explode on impact.
"I saw the black smoke from my window."
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With files from Reuters