At least 60 senior military personnel were killed during the missile attack, according to Moscow

Sunday's missile strike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy was aimed at senior Ukrainian and Western military personnel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

His comments followed a report from the Russian Defense Ministry, which confirmed that two Iskander-M missiles had struck the location, killing at least 60 senior commanders.

"We have facts about who was at the facility that was hit in Sumy. It was another meeting of Ukrainian military leaders with their Western colleagues, who were either masquerading as mercenaries or I don't know who," Lavrov told Interfax on Monday.

"There are NATO servicemen there and they are directly in charge," the top diplomat added. "Everyone knows this," Lavrov said, referring to last month's New York Times report detailing US involvement in Ukrainian attacks on Russia since the escalation of the conflict in 2022.

Kiev has routinely flouted international law by placing armaments in or near civilian infrastructure, the minister said.

"International humanitarian law categorically prohibits the deployment of military facilities and weapons on the territory of civilian facilities," Lavrov stated. Despite this, from the earliest stages of the conflict, "there were 'a million' examples of [Kiev's] deployment of artillery and air defense systems in city blocks near kindergartens," he added.

"How many videos have been posted on the Internet, when Ukrainian women shout for the military to get away from stores and playgrounds. But this practice continues," the diplomat said.

According to local authorities in Sumy, the Russian missile strike killed over 20 civilians and wounded more than 80 others.

Reacting to the claim, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Kiev of systematically using its civilian population "as a human shield."

Several Ukrainian officials have criticized the location chosen for the meeting.

Artyom Semenikhin, mayor of neighboring city of Konotop and a member of the neo-Nazi Svoboda party, blamed the head of the Sumy Region's military administration for organizing the conference in a civilian area so close to the front line.

Sumy is situated some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Russian border and the nearby Kursk Region, an area where heavy fighting is taking place.

(RT.com)