Nine people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a civilian minibus in north-eastern Ukraine, officials say.
Regional military leaders said seven others were also injured in the attack on Saturday morning in Bilopillia as a minibus travelled to Sumy, the regional capital close to Russia’s border.
The strike occurred just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in more than three years. Little was achieved but a prisoner swap was agreed.
Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky said the attack on the bus was “a deliberate killing of civilians”. Russia has not commented but state media reported that forces had hit a “military staging area” in the Sumy province.
Zelensky said Russian forces “could not help but understand what kind of vehicle they were hitting”.
He said a family – a mother, father and their daughter – were among those killed in the attack.
Citing preliminary information, Sumy’s regional head Oleh Hryhorov said the bus was hit by a Russian Lancet drone at 06:17 local time on Saturday (03:17 GMT). He described the attack as “inhumane”.
Friday’s talks in Istanbul, Turkey, did not lead to any breakthrough as Ukraine and Russia remain far apart on how to end the war.
However, it was agreed that each side would return 1,000 prisoners of war to the other in the coming days.
Zelensky said of the talks that “as on any day of this war, there was an opportunity to cease fire. Ukraine has been offering this for a long time”.
Following the Istanbul discussions, Ukraine reiterated its call for a full and unconditional ceasefire but a deal with Russia remained elusive.
Ukraine said the next step in the process would be direct talks between Zelensky and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.
Russia said it had “taken notice” of the request.
The US has claimed that progress on ending the war would only be made if President Donald Trump and Putin held face-to-face talks.
During a visit to the Middle East, Trump told reporters on Air Force One “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together”.
“He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there and I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” Trump added.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine used Sumy to launch offensives into Russia’s Kursk region in August. Russia drove the majority of Ukraine’s troops back earlier this year and has intensified cross-border artillery and air attacks in recent months.
Earlier this week before talks began with Ukraine, Russia carried out drone strikes across the region, killing three people and injuring nine others, according to Sumy’s regional military administration.
On Saturday, Ukrainian drones reportedly struck an ammunition depot in Crimea, the region illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
According to Reuters, Ukraine’s strike caused the detonation of warehouses where military equipment, weapons and fuel was stored.
