MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that all those who blamed Russia for attacking civilians in the Ukrainian city of Sumy should "kneel before the world" once the circumstances were clarified by the Ukrainian authorities themselves.

Zakharova said on Telegram that the reactions of European leaders failed to grasp the reality of the situation, as they were “driven by an impulse to smear Russia."

Instead, they hastily accused Russia of targeting civilians and indulged in "frenetic Russophobic competition, grasping at any pretext to damage relations with Moscow, already strained for many years."

Zakharova emphasized that the war crime perpetrated by the head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, Volodymyr Artyukh, who organized a rally of Armed Forces of Ukraine militants with the involvement of women and children at the event, sparked outrage even domestically, compelling his resignation.

"When the gathering of militants was eliminated, they rushed to blame Russia. Yet once it became evident that the authorities intentionally exploited children to shield criminals, silence ensued," she said, adding that "logically, following these revelations and resignations, they ought to bow down before the entire world."

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday reported a strike using two Iskander-M missiles at the meeting place of the command staff of the Seversk operational and tactical group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Sumy.