Russian strike on Sumy targeted Ukrainian and NATO officers - Lavrov

RT
Mon, 14 Apr 2025 19:23 UTC

© Getty Images / Diego Fedele

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian troops of the 117th Brigade of the Territorial Defence Forces Sumy Region, Ukriane, March 09, 2025.

At least 60 senior military personnel were killed during the missile attack, according to Moscow

Sunday's missile strike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy was aimed at senior Ukrainian and Western military personnel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

His comments followed a report from the Russian Defense Ministry, which confirmed that two Iskander-M missiles had struck the location, killing at least 60 senior commanders.

"We have facts about who was at the facility that was hit in Sumy. It was another meeting of Ukrainian military leaders with their Western colleagues, who were either masquerading as mercenaries or I don't know who," Lavrov told Interfax on Monday.

"There are NATO servicemen there and they are directly in charge," the top diplomat added. "Everyone knows this," Lavrov said, referring to last month's New York Times report detailing US involvement in Ukrainian attacks on Russia since the escalation of the conflict in 2022.

Kiev has routinely flouted international law by placing armaments in or near civilian infrastructure, the minister said.

"International humanitarian law categorically prohibits the deployment of military facilities and weapons on the territory of civilian facilities," Lavrov stated. Despite this, from the earliest stages of the conflict, "there were 'a million' examples of [Kiev's] deployment of artillery and air defense systems in city blocks near kindergartens," he added.

"How many videos have been posted on the Internet, when Ukrainian women shout for the military to get away from stores and playgrounds. But this practice continues," the diplomat said.

According to local authorities in Sumy, the Russian missile strike killed over 20 civilians and wounded more than 80 others.

Reacting to the claim, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Kiev of systematically using its civilian population "as a human shield."

Several Ukrainian officials have criticized the location chosen for the meeting.

Artyom Semenikhin, mayor of neighboring city of Konotop and a member of the neo-Nazi Svoboda party, blamed the head of the Sumy Region's military administration for organizing the conference in a civilian area so close to the front line.

Sumy is situated some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Russian border and the nearby Kursk Region, an area where heavy fighting is taking place.

Comment: " killing at least 60 senior commanders" What could that mean?
The Wikis explains that senior officer in the military can have ranks with names that will depend on whether it is within the army, navy or airforce, and also varies a little depending on the country. Ranks within this tier of the army includes colonels, lieutenant colonels and majors. This rank is just below the level of generals, but above that of junior officers, within which the highest rank is captain who will be in command of a company of 100-250 soldiers. A US colonel will command a brigade of soldiers, or around 4000-6000 men, a lieutenant colonel a regiment, and a major a battalion.

Since there are not officially any NATO soldiers in Ukraine, the deceased can look forward to a low key funeral, possibly with the family having signed non-disclosure agreement.

It might be possible to glean who was hurt the most from the subsequent developments.

The same source carried an article:
14 Apr, 2025 16:05
Medvedev brands incoming German chancellor a 'Nazi'
The context for this accusation was:

In an interview with state broadcaster ARD, Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and the likely future leader of Germany, stated that Berlin could supply long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, but only if it is done in coordination with other EU nations.

Kiev should in the future use Western-supplied missiles to go on the offensive and destroy, for example, "the most important land connection between Russia and Crimea," Merz said.

Merz did not clarify if he meant the Crimean bridge, which stretches from Russia's Krasnodar Region to Crimea, or the 'land bridge' that Russian forces established with the peninsula when the former Ukrainian region off Kherson joined Russia.

However, many critics have interpreted Merz's words to mean the Crimean bridge, especially given that Kiev has already conducted a number of attacks on it since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

So much for the Germans.

Who else has put up a voice? British PM Keir Starmer had this to say on X.com

© X.com

"President Zelenskyy has shown his commitment to peace." Yes!? In general, Starmer's concern for the victims rings hollow, as some of the comments to the post points out, but if one takes the angle that he might have lost a couple of his own voters and compatriots then it might be appropriate of him to come out and say he feels for the (British military) families that are now short of a member.

But were there any British soldiers lost recently? Besides Sumy, one hypothesis is that a target for an attack on the town of Odessa included a secret hospital to which wounded British soldiers from the attack on Sumy should have been transported in helicopters. It is not impossible, since the distance from Sumy to Odessa is substantially shorter than trying to get to Poland, but still around three hours away by helicopter. A similar situation to that of Odessa, occured in the town of Poltava around the same time, much closer by the way, but were there British casualties?

Another hypothesis is that when a military industrial complex, the Antonov aircraft factory in Kiev, was hit, some British also called it enough.

One of the building at the premises was used for assembling drones.

The other day, Geraniums and, presumably, Iskanders flew through Kiev, but monitoring resources provided minimal details. Basically, there were shots of powerful fires and a series of explosions - apparently, a secondary detonation that lasted several hours. The details were leaked by the Polish media a couple of days later.

According to the data aif.ru The Polish online portal Onet published previously unknown details - the most severe explosions occurred at the Antonov aircraft factory. This military enterprise developed long-range UAVs, apparently, including the "Fierce" ones - converted Turkish Bayraktars, with which the enemy tried to attack Moscow and the Moscow region. The main target was the hangar, where the final stage of assembly took place, but attacks also hit neighboring infrastructure facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
[...]
The main beneficiaries of providing attack drones to Kiev are Turks, Latvians and the British. Judging by the reports of military bloggers, there are a lot of the latter in Kiev, like the French in Odessa.

The site speculates that some of the people from the donor countries, including British, were present at this facility in Kiev. That may not be true, as it was a night time, but during a conflict night shift can occur, even for high ranking supervisors, so it is a possibility. Regarding what was said about French presence in Odessa, did the helicopters with suspected British, mentioned earlier, actually carry wounded French?

By the way, some of the recent strikes into Russia may also have taken a number of Russian officers. War is rarely a one sided game where only one side looses.

It is hard to fact-check a claim that there were "western tourists" in Sumy, or that some of those claimed to have died there, actually expired when they were in a makeshift secret repair shop. We may never know the details, but something serious happened. The Western belligerents prefer to keep their presence secret and Russia respects that choice enough to not cause them outright embarrassment, by giving name etc. Thus all we are left with is circumstantial evidence.