20:32 BST 13 April
As news broke of Russia's latest strike on Sumy, Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse and his team began reporting from the ground.
Nataliia , who narrowly avoided death as her car was destroyed by a missile, told James "if we hadn't moved, we would have died".
Svitlana Smirnova , 51, said she was at church for Palm Sunday when the strike happened. Her friend was injured while travelling on a bus at the time of the attack and remains unconscious in hospital, she added.
Acting mayor of Sumy, Artem Kobzar , told James: "We haven't had anything like this in our city during the whole war."
A scene of devastation: Cluster munitions were used to kill as many people as possible, according to Sumy officials, in a place James said is now habitually pummelled by Russian forces across the nearby border.
Still no agreement: Every inch of Ukraine feels the pressure of Russia’s full-scale invasion , James said, as the idea of peace or a ceasefire feels no closer.
A direct hit? James said this appears to have been a direct hit on a bustling city on a Sunday morning, as he saw burning vehicles, bent trees and the occasional colour of a dead person’s jacket.
Two ballistic missiles struck the city, killing at least 34 people and injuring 117 others - including a baby - officials say.
Russia's defence ministry says Ukrainian drones have been shot down over the Kursk region in the past few hours.
18:23 BST 13 April
Video purporting to capture the moment of the missile strike shows what could either be a ballistic or cruise missile during the final part of its flight, or terminal phase.
It's more likely to be a ballistic missile as Sumy is close to the Russian border. These missiles are fired in an arc into the atmosphere and back down again onto their target.
Cruise missiles, that fly more like a plane or a drone, tend to attack deeper into Ukraine - although this is not always the case. But ballistic missiles can evade air defence systems more easily because of their sheer speed.
Either way, missiles are pre-programmed with target co-ordinates for the intended location of the strike - these are usually precise and accurate.
Unless the missile was successfully "spoofed", or there was a failure in the guidance system, what the weapon struck is highly likely to have been its intended target.
Attacks on built-up civilian areas have also been regularly carried out by the Russians throughout this war.
published at 17:45 British Summer Time 13 April
17:45 BST 13 April
Sumy's regional head says Russia's latest strikes on the city aimed to cause the maximum amount of destruction.
Volodymyr Artiukh says the strikes happened when the city was busy: "Many people were outside on the street. The enemy counted on inflicting the biggest damage to people and to the city of Sumy".
Artiukh adds that the injured are receiving assistance, with all emergency services working at the site of the Russian ballistic missile attack.
'It is horror out there,' Sumy resident says published at 17:24 British Summer Time 13 April
17:24 BST 13 April
Parvis Manakhov, who lives in the city centre of Sumy, describes the "horror" of the latest Russian strikes.
"There is no military base, and there are no soldiers here. It is simply a genocide... it is horror out there," he tells Reuters news agency.
Manakhov says his neighbour lost her son in November and today "her husband died on the street". He adds that he saw "at least four bodies" in the aftermath of the attack.
Iryna Pryykhodko, 60, says the first explosion was strong but the second was even stronger.
"First I saw shattered windows. Then before the second strike, we took cover inside the residential building. After the second strike, it was all covered with smoke and I could not see anything," she says.
'If we hadn't moved we would be dead' published at 17:05 British Summer Time 13 April
17:05 BST 13 April
Nataliia escaped death today.
After she heard the first strike she rushed to pick up her child from music school in the building behind her.
It was when she was taking her child and other children to the shelter that the second strike hit her car that you can see in the picture.
“If we hadn’t moved to the shelter on time we would have been in the car and we would be dead,” she says.
Injuries vary in severity, head of Sumy's Red Cross says published at 16:49 British Summer Time 13 April
16:49 BST 13 April
The head of Sumy's branch of the Ukrainian Red Cross says "everyone was helping" recovery efforts following the deadly Russian strikes.
Igor Shapoval says he and his crew "carried out the wounded" and that their injuries "varied in degrees of severity".
He adds: "But we were not the only ones working. The State Emergency Service was working and the military was working".
Sumy death toll rises published at 16:23 British Summer Time 13 April
16:23 BST 13 April Breaking
We've just had an update from Ukraine's state emergency service who say the death toll has risen to 34, from the earlier reported 32.
They add that 117 people are injured, including 15 children.
In a statement they say: "This is an irreparable loss for the whole country."
Russia's fast-moving missiles almost impossible to stop published at 16:12 British Summer Time 13 April
16:12 BST 13 April
For months, Russia's tactic has been to swamp Ukraine with cheap attack drones to overwhelm them. Today's strike demonstrates the difficulties of intercepting Russian missiles.
Fast-moving missiles are nearly impossible to defeat. Ukraine uses many western-supplied air defences but they cannot cover all areas.
F-16 jet fighters are also used to intercept cruise missiles and there have been significant successes. Last December, one Ukrainian F-16 pilot is credited with taking down six Russian missiles during one mission.
But these modern warplanes are in short supply, and their pilots require conversion training to the newer jets.
So far, three pilots have died in combat missions since last year. The latest fatality - Pavlo Ivanov - was only announced yesterday by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Amid the talk of ceasefires, the attacks on Ukraine continue.
