Tragedy in Sumy: Konotop Mayor Semenikhin and People’s Deputy Bezugla publicly accused the authorities and the military leadership (video)
On Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025, Russian forces launched one of the worst missile attacks on the city of Sumy during the entire time of the full-scale invasion. The strike, which hit the very center of the city, killed at least 32 civilians. Two children were among the dead. Another 84 people were injured, including ten children. Deep shock, despair and anger – these are the emotions that not only Sumyshchyna, but also all of Ukraine reacted to the tragedy. The power of the explosion, the scale of destruction and numerous victims immediately caused a resonance in society and at the same time – an avalanche of questions: why did the rocket hit the center of a peaceful city? Were there miscalculations on the part of the Ukrainian military or the regional administration? These questions formed the basis of harsh public criticism from the mayor of Konotop, Artem Semenikhin, and People’s Deputy of Ukraine Maryana Bezuglai.
Konotop Mayor Artem Semenikhin in his sharp and emotional video message, published on April 13 in Facebook, placed personal responsibility for the missile attack on Sumy on the head of the Sumy regional military administration, Volodymyr Artyukh, and the head of the SBU regional administration, Oleg Krasnoshapka. He demanded that they both resign by 6:00 p.m., threatening to reveal “the whole truth” about what he said really happened if they didn’t.
Semenikhin stated that if by the specified time Artyukh does not kneel before the dead people and apologize, as well as submit his credentials together with Krasnoshapka, whom he also accused of inaction and conspiracy, he will tell publicly what he knows about the circumstances of the attack.
“At 6:00 p.m. I’ll tell you what happened, you bastard.” – he said, accompanying the appeal with rude and insulting expressions addressed to the regional leadership.
Semenikhin called Artyukh and Krasnoshapka “complicit in the crime of Muscovites” and emphasized that, in his opinion, their irresponsibility or negligence contributed to this tragedy.
At the same time, People’s Deputy from “Servant of the People” Maryana Bezugla also made her statement. In his posts on Facebook, she hinted that the strike may have been triggered by a gathering of soldiers at a military awards ceremony in the city center. She also stated that the heads of some administrations send out information about meetings in an open way and then remain in their positions
“Vinnytsia, Chernihiv, Poltava, Dnipro, Sumy. All cases are similar. Between them, there are hundreds of other Russian cynical attacks directly on civilians, but there are cases when the enemy received information about the military in large cities. It is NOT possible not to draw conclusions! The enemy tries to use every chance!
The Russians want to kill us: soldiers, civilians, adults, children. They hit playgrounds and hospitals, torture and lie. But we have no right to make mistakes, to depend on military “scoops” who do not draw conclusions, do not know how to adapt to the conditions of modern war, and are not able to move away from outdated and dangerous rituals.
We cannot put up with indifferent heads of some administrations who send out information about meetings in an open way and then stay in office – as has happened several times.
We have to learn faster, be more flexible, clean the system of “scoops” and idiots. Otherwise, the innocent and defenseless will suffer.
All this does NOT diminish the crimes of the enemy, but lies diminish our ability to fight.
General Syrsky
General Plahuta
General Nesterenko
General Artyukh
Congress Center”, Bezugla wrote in an extremely sharp style.
This material reflects exclusively the opinions of the commentators. The point of view of the editors of IA “FAKT” may not coincide with them.
