Analysis
Civilian
deaths in Sumy attack may force Washington to get tough with Putin
Dan Sabbagh
in Kyiv
Talks
between US and Russia continue unabated as attacks on Ukraine’s cities appear
to have stepped up
Sun 13 Apr
2025 13.14 EDT
Even by the
warped standards of wartime, Russia’s Sunday morning attack on Sumy was
astonishingly brazen. Two high-speed ballistic missiles, armed, Ukraine says,
with cluster munitions, slammed into the heart of the border city in
mid-morning as families went to church, waited for a theatre performance or
were simply strolling about on a mild spring day.
The death
toll currently stands at 34, including two children. Images from the scene show
bodies or body bags on the ground, a trolley bus and cars burnt out, rubble and
glass scattered around. It was reckless, cruel and vicious and its consequences
entirely predictable to those who gave the order and pressed “launch”.
To
contemplate a daytime city-centre attack, in the full knowledge that civilians
will be present, reflects a Russian culture of impunity that has been allowed
to endure without effective challenge. Nevertheless, Washington’s approach,
under Donald Trump, has been to try to negotiate an end to the war by talking
directly with Moscow, while remaining mostly silent on Russian attacks on
civilians.
Talks
between the US and Russia have continued unabated over the past two months at a
time when Russian attacks on Ukraine’s cities appear to have stepped up. Nine
adults and nine children were killed when a Russian ballistic missile using
cluster bombs struck a children’s playground in Kryvyi Rih at the end of last
week.
People were
burned alive in their cars and the bodies of children were found dead in the
playground, yet the attack was weakly condemned by the US ambassador to
Ukraine, Bridget Brink, who, toeing the White House line, would not say the
deadly missile was from Russia as she tweeted: “This is why the war must end.”
Brink has
since announced she will step down and been more forthright. On Sunday, the
ambassador attributed the Sumy attack to Russia and repeated that it appeared
cluster bombs had been used. But now that she is on her way out, it is easier
for her to speak her mind while Russia’s Vladimir Putin toys with Trump and the
rest of the US administration in peace talks that have hardly developed in two
months.
On Friday,
the Russian leader spent four hours in talks with Steve Witkoff, a donor real
estate developer who has become a key Trump adviser on Ukraine as well as the
Middle East. What they talked about is unclear, but reports suggest Witkoff has
been pushing the idea that the quickest way to get Russia to agree a ceasefire
in Ukraine is to force Kyiv to hand over the entirety of four provinces that
are only partly occupied by Russia’s military, including the cities of Kherson
and Zaporizhzhia.
The
dissonance between the killing and destruction in Sumy on Sunday and the
photographed handshake between Witkoff and Putin is all too evident to most
observers. It is not clear why it should even be contemplated that Ukraine hand
over territory (something that even the US cannot easily force on Kyiv) when
Russia is willing to countenance daytime attacks on civilians.
But Moscow
believes, and acts like it believes, it can get away with it. The Kremlin will
ignore condemnation from European leaders and wait for the news cycle to move
on – and will almost certainly continue to attack Ukrainian cities to little
military purpose. Not only are drone attacks commonplace, but there are now
concerns they are routinely being armed with cluster munitions, while almost
every day one or two hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles are thrown into the
deadly mix.
In Kyiv,
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes that gradually Trump will realise Putin is
not negotiating in good faith. Certainly, the attack on the centre of Sumy
hardly suggests a strong appetite for peace. But it is unclear at what point,
if any, the White House is prepared to conclude that killing of civilians means
that it needs to put genuine pressure on Russia to negotiate rather than
indulge the Kremlin.
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