There can be no excuse for Sunday's
attack by Russia on the Ukrainian city of Sumy that killed 34
people, including two children, Italian officials said Monday.
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stressed that
Russia's forces were not in Ukraine by mistake after US
President Donald Trump suggested Moscow may have made some sort
of an error regarding the attack, which hit Palm Sunday
faithful.
While calling the attack a "horrible thing", Trump added that it
had been a "mistake".
"I don't know what the nature (of the Sumy attack) was, but the
Russians did not decide to invade Ukraine, violating all the
rules of international law, by mistake," Tajani said.
"When you wage war and unleash attacks of this kind, mistakes
can occur, but they are unacceptable, because they are part of
an overall strategy - we are still talking about an attack on
Ukraine.
"And even if they had wanted to bomb another area, it would
still have been part of the aggression.
"Ukraine said it was ready to engage in dialogue.
"It seems to me that Russia does not want to engage in this
dialogue if it continues to attack and wants to prolong a war
that it provoked, because the war was provoked by Russia.
"So what happened yesterday is unacceptable because it is part
of an unacceptable aggression against a free and independent
country".
Premier Giorgia Meloni condemned the attack as "horrible and
cowardly" pointing out that it took place on Palm Sunday and
resulted in "innocent civilian victims, sadly including also
children.
"I firmly condemn these unacceptable acts of violence, which
contradict any real efforts towards peace, being advanced by
President Trump and strongly supported by Italy together with
Europe and other international partners," Meloni said.
"I express my most sincere condolences for the victims, to their
families and all Ukrainian people.
We will continue to work to
stop this barbarity".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, again warned
the world about the danger posed by Russian President Vladimir
Putin after the Sumy massacre.
"If we don't stop, he will advance further, the threat is real.
The final goal is to revive the Russian
empire, the situation could degenerate into a world war," he
said in an interview with CBS.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin claimed that in Sumy
it was not civilians who were hit but "a meeting of Ukrainian
officers", and that 60 soldiers were killed.
Moscow accused the Ukrainian military of "continuing to use
civilians as human shields, organizing events with the
participation of military personnel in the center of a densely
populated city".
Zelensky responded by saying that all Russian targets in Ukraine
were civilian ones.
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