Standing on the doorstep of a funeral home on Tuesday, Lyudmyla Mosunova felt helpless while thinking about the burial of her mother Tetyana, killed in a Russian missile attack two days before.
“I’m waiting for her to come to me at night in my dreams,” the 41-year-old said. “Tomorrow is the funeral, maybe she could give me some advice.”
Tetyana Kvasha died in a double missile attack that killed 35 people in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, located 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Russian border.
The strikes took place on Palm Sunday, when many were heading to church to mark a week before Easter.
“I can’t think about anything at all. I come home, sit and cry. I open my phone, look at the photos and cry. Everyone sends condolences, I cry,” Mosunova told AFP.
The attack was the country’s deadliest of 2025 and one of the worst since Russia invaded more than three years ago, according to national police.
Kvasha, 65, had decided to take the bus to the city centre for Palm Sunday.
“It ended up being a bloody Sunday,” Mosunova said, tearing up.
Military medic Artem Selyanin was about to meet some friends after having breakfast with his wife and daughter when he heard the first blast.
The 47-year-old rushed to help.
“‘Dad, where are you running to?’,” his daughter asked.
“I told her I had to save people,” he said, speaking to AFP on Monday near the site of the strike.
– ‘Can’t comprehend’ –
A second strike hit as he was tending to the wounded.
“We ran from there to here, it was chaos. There were mountains of corpses, civilians,” he said.
Russia has faced criticism for using the “double tap” tactic — an initial strike followed by a second attack killing those trying to help the wounded.
World leaders condemned Moscow, which claimed it had targeted an army meeting.
US President Donald Trump said “they made a mistake” — without specifying who or what he was referring to.
“I don’t believe that it was a mistake, because it’s not possible that two missiles hit the same place,” said Iryna Kashchenko.
Kashchenko was the director of the school where Maryna Chudesa used to work, before Chudesa was killed with her mother in Sunday’s attack.
“It is a weekend, a holiday, people are going to church, people are going to pray, to bless willow branches, and it’s the city centre,” she continued.
“The children are in shock,” Kashchenko said.
“Because fifth grade children don’t understand yet, they’re still children.”
At the entry of the school, a memorial had been set up, with flowers and a black-and-white photo of Chudesa smiling.
Just above it hung the portrait of a school alumnus killed at war.
The portrait of a second killed alumnus still needed to be added to the wall.
“I don’t comprehend this loss,” Kashchenko said, speaking about Chudesa.
“It’s very hard and difficult to speak, and now I’m going to the funeral service.”