DISINFO: The Sumy attack was a military one
SUMMARY
On April 13, 2025, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched missile strikes on the city of Sumy. The attack was aimed at a gathering of Ukrainian servicemen from the 117th Territorial Defence Brigade, who were gathered at the conference centre for an awards ceremony marking the unit’s anniversary. This is not the first time that Ukrainian forces have been accused of using civilian infrastructure as cover and civilians as human shields. Kyiv’s propaganda narrative has been dismantled, confirming that the attack was aimed at military personnel. There was no indiscriminate attack on civilians. Ukrainian forces deliberately mixed the military and civilian presence, effectively using them as human shields.
RESPONSE
Denial of war crimes conducted by the Russian armed forces. The denial covers not only a specific war crime on April 13, 2025, in the city of Sumy, but also during the war more broadly.
On Sunday, April 13, 2025, Russian ballistic missiles ripped through the busy centre of Sumy, killing at least 35 people and striking terror into residents who were out enjoying Palm Sunday and attending morning church services. It was the deadliest attack of the conflict this year. Two children were among the scores of people killed in the strikes on the city’s centre, while 117 people were wounded, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes were carried out by ballistic missiles; one hit a university building and another “exploded right over (a) street,” he said.
The Sumy attack happened just a few days after a similar Russian attack took place in Kryvyi Rih on 04 April 2025, which killed and wounded multiple civilians including at least 9 children. Russia also falsely claimed then that it was targeting a meeting of Ukrainian military officers in a restaurant, but these allegations were immediately debunked as a security video of the place does not show such a gathering. The actual targets and victims of the attack, mostly civilians, were documented not only by footage and reporters on the ground but also by a team of the UN Human Rights Office in Ukraine.
Since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia has attacked civilian targets multiple times, including the city theatre in Mariupol, residential buildings, schools and energy facilities. On 05 March 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against two Russian top officials considered responsible for “missile strikes carried out by the forces under their command against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure" between October 2022 and March 2023, which are considered as war crimes.
Denying war crimes and atrocities and trying to deflect any responsibility is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation technique.
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