EU Shocked Over Russia’s Palm Sunday Strike, Killing Dozens (Worthy News Radio)
LUXEMBOURG /SUMY (Worthy News) – European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to discuss their response after the shock of Russia’s Palm Sunday attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, which killed at least 34 and injured more than 100 people.
It happened while many were on their way to church, and there were children among the victims.
A young, injured woman, her face and coat covered in blood, is consoling a small child, holding it tightly in her arms.
It’s one of several examples of suffering here after Russia’s Palm Sunday missile strike killed dozens and injured more than 100 people, including numerous children, in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.
Two Russian ballistic missiles landed in the center of this city, about 31 miles
(50 kilometers) from the Russian border, while the faithful were making their way to church, witnesses said.
With memories of bloodstained victims and dead bodies lying in the street still fresh, European Union foreign ministers were in Luxembourg discussing an EU response to one of Russia‘s deadliest attacks against civilians in the three-year war in Ukraine.
POLISH MINISTER
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he hopes that…“U.S. President [Donald J.] Trump and his administration see that the leader of Russia is “mocking their goodwill, and I hope the right decisions are taken.”
His words reverberated hours after U.S. president Trump called the attack on Sumy “terrible,” but added he was told it “was a mistake” without elaborating.
Trump also blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stressed this was not his war.
Yet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told US broadcaster CBS that “Russian narratives are prevailing in the US.”
Zelenskyy issued a dramatic appeal to President Trump. “Before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead.”
Church leaders share their concerns. Visvaldas Kulbokas, the Vatican’s ambassador to Ukraine, also known as the Apostolic Nuncio, said, “There’s nothing left but to turn to the Lord to defend us. Because it seems that no other force is capable of protecting peace and life.”
CHURCHGOERS HIT
He recalled that many of the victims were churchgoers of different Christian denominations who were going to church on Palm Sunday, “the beginning of Holy Week” toward Easter, “making the tragedy even more poignant. ”
This year different denominations celebrate Easter simultaneously due to the alignment of the Gregorian and Julian calendars.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) also condemned the attack, demanding that those responsible “stop shedding innocent blood” in “pursuit of their territorial and political ambitions.”
The WCC urged the international community to protect “the victims from such aggression, and to hold the perpetrators accountable” by all available means.”
As Christians prepare to celebrate Easter WCC urged prayers for an end to the violence, and “for a conversion of minds focused on war” to “seeking peace and the justice on which true peace is founded.”
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