Civilian death toll in Ukraine climbs, as Putin resists Trump’s peace drive

Ukraine and European countries said the latest Russian missile strike, which killed 34 and left more than 100 injured in the city of Sumy on Sunday, showed Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t interested in a cease-fire.

France’s foreign minister called for increased sanctions on Moscow following the attack. Friedrich Merz, Germany’s incoming chancellor, called the strike “a serious war crime" and said he was open to equipping Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles.

Putin “evidently interprets our willingness to talk with him not as a serious offer to make peace, but as weakness," Merz told German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

Trump, meanwhile, described the strike late Sunday as “a horrible thing," adding: “I was told [Russia] made a mistake." Asked by a reporter whether he believed the strike was unintentional, he said: “They made a mistake. Look, you’re going to ask them. This is Biden’s war. This is not my war."

Trump reiterated his assertion that the war wouldn’t have started if he had been president and that he was trying to put an end to it to save lives.

Russian officials said it was a strike on a military target.

The reaction to the attack highlights the growing chasm between the U.S. and its European allies over the war. European leaders have said Ukraine’s military should be bolstered to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in peace talks. Merz said Sunday that he was open to providing long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Trump had pledged to end the war in 24 hours during his presidential campaign, and has instigated the first direct talks between Washington and Moscow since the start of full invasion in 2022, but efforts so far have yielded scarce results. Ukraine has agreed to an unconditional cease-fire, but Russia has demanded sweeping concessions including territory, political control over Kyiv and limits on its neighbor’s military.

Ukraine has said that Russia is regularly violating its pledge to Trump to halt strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Russia has accused Kyiv of doing the same. Moscow has demanded an easing of financial sanctions in return for a cease-fire in the Black Sea that Ukraine has agreed to.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said further sanctions should be levied on Russia to force it to halt its invasion—something Trump has given little sign he is willing to do.

Senior Trump administration officials, including his envoy, Steve Witkoff, have repeated Russia’s version of the war and declined to criticize Putin.

The Russian missile strike in Sumy, Ukraine, killed 34 and left more than 100 injured.

In an interview with CBS, broadcast Sunday, Zelensky reiterated concerns that Russian disinformation was prevailing in the U.S. and called on Trump to visit Ukraine.

“We want you to come and to see," Zelensky said. “Please, before any kind of decisions, any kinds of formats of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children—destroyed or dead."

The Russian strike on Sunday was the deadliest this year, leaving bodies lying in busy central streets of northern Sumy where people had been celebrating Palm Sunday. Ukraine said it hit university and residential buildings, cars and streets. The attack followed another strike in central Kryviy Rih this month that killed 19, including nine children.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had struck a meeting of Ukrainian military commanders in Sumy with two ballistic missiles, killing more than 60 service members. Asked about the strike Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Our armed forces strike only military and military-related targets."

Zelensky said Monday that 38 people wounded in the Sumy strike remained in medical facilities, including 11 seriously injured. He said that in April alone Russia had launched nearly 2,800 aerial bombs, 1,400 explosive drones and 60 missiles against Ukraine.

Russia carried out airstrikes across Ukraine early Monday, injuring seven with drones in the southern port city of Odesa, Zelensky said.

The United Nations in February put the civilian death toll of the three-year war at nearly 13,000, noting that those were verified deaths and that the real total was likely much higher.

Write to James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com