More than 30 people killed, 84 injured in Russian missile attack on Ukrainian city of Sumy
Kyiv, Apr 13 (AP): At least 32 people have been killed in a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, officials said.
Two ballistic missiles struck the heart of the city at around 10:15 a.m. as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, according to officials.
Images posted from the scene on official channels showed lines of black body bags lying on the side of the road, while more bodies were seen wrapped in foil blankets among the debris.
Video footage also showed fire crews as they fought to extinguish the shells of burnt-out cars among the rubble from damaged buildings.
“On this bright Palm Sunday, our community has suffered a terrible tragedy,” acting Mayor Artem Kobzar said in a statement on social media. “Unfortunately, we already know of more than 20 deaths.”
At least 32 people were killed as a result of the attack, including two children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a statement. A further 84 people were injured, including 10 children, it said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that rescue efforts were ongoing and said “dozens” had been killed in the double missile attack.
“According to preliminary information, dozens of civilians were killed and wounded. Only filthy scum can act like this — taking the lives of ordinary people,” he said.
The attack on Sumy is the second large-scale attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week, following a deadly missile strike on Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih on April 4 that killed some 20 people, including nine children.
Zelenskyy also called for a global response to the attack. “Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and aerial bombs. What's needed is an attitude toward Russia that a terrorist deserves,” he said.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said Sunday that a Russian strike had hit one of the city's kindergartens, shattering windows and damaging the building's facade. No casualties were reported.
The strikes come a day after Russia and Ukraine's senior diplomats accused each other of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, underscoring the challenges of negotiating an end to the 3-year war.
The two countries' foreign ministers spoke at separate events at the annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum, a day after US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss peace prospects.
“The Ukrainians have been attacking us from the very beginning, every passing day, maybe with two or three exceptions,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would provide the US, Turkiye and international bodies with a list of Kyiv's attacks during the past three weeks.
His Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, contested that claim, saying Saturday that Russia had launched “almost 70 missiles, over 2,200 (exploding) drones, and over 6,000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, mostly at civilians" since agreeing to the limited pause on strikes.
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Rahul Gandhi urges Karnataka CM to enact Rohith Vemula Act for ending caste-based discrimination
New Delhi (PTI): Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging the state government to enact a law named Rohith Vemula Act for ensuring that no one faces caste-based discrimination in the education system.
In his letter to the Karnataka CM, Gandhi highlighted the discrimination BR Ambedkar faced in his lifetime.
"Here he describes an incident during a long bullock cart journey: 'There was plenty of food with us. There was hunger burning within us; with all this we were to sleep without food; that was because we could get no water, and we could get no water because we were untouchables'.
"He tells us about his experience in school: 'I knew I was an untouchable, and that untouchables were subjected to certain indignities and discriminations. For instance, I knew that in the school I could not sit in the midst of my classmates according to my rank, but I was to sit in a corner by myself'," Gandhi said quoting Ambedkar.
The Congress leader said Siddaramaiah would agree that what Ambedkar faced was shameful and should not be endured by any child in India.
"It is a shame that even today millions of students from Dalit, Adivasi and OBC communities have to face such brutal discrimination in our educational system," Gandhi said.
"The murder of bright young people like Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi and Darshan Solanki is simply not acceptable. It is time to put a firm end to this. I urge the Karnataka government to enact the Rohith Vemula Act so that no child of India has to face what Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Rohit Vemula and millions of others have had to endure," Gandhi said in his letter to the Karnataka chief minister dated April 16.
Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student, died by suicide due to caste-based discrimination, in 2016.
Sharing the letter on X, Gandhi said, "Recently, I met students and teachers from Dalit, Adivasi and OBC communities in Parliament. During the conversation, they told me how they have to face caste-based discrimination in colleges and universities."
Ambedkar had shown that education is the only means by which even the deprived can become empowered and break the caste system, Gandhi said.
But it is very unfortunate that even after decades, lakhs of students are facing caste discrimination in our education system, he said.
"This discrimination has taken the lives of promising students like Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi and Darshan Solanki. Such horrific incidents cannot be tolerated at any cost. Now is the time to put a complete stop to this injustice," he said.
"I have written a letter to Siddaramaiah ji and requested that the Rohith Vemula Act be implemented in Karnataka. No child in India should face the casteism that Babasaheb Ambedkar, Rohith Vemula and crores of people have suffered," he said.
