Nine reported killed in Russian strike on the civil bus in Ukraine

Nine people were killed in a Russian drone attack on a civil minibus in northeastern Ukraine, local officials say.

Regional military leaders said that seven other people were injured in the attack on Saturday morning in Bilopillia, Sumy, while the minibus traveled to the regional capital near the Russian border.

The report came only a few hours after Russia and Ukraine had held their first direct peace talks since 2022. No breakthrough was achieved, although a prisoner of war was agreed.

Volodmr Zensky, the president of Ukraine, said that the attack was “a deliberate murder of civilians”. Russia did not comment directly, but the state media reported that forces in Sumy had affected a “military staging area”.

Zensky added that Russian troops “couldn’t help it, but understand what kind of vehicle they hit”.

With reference to provisional information, Sumy Regional Head Oleh Hryhorov said the bus was being hit by a Russian Lancet drone at 06:17 Local time on Saturday (03:17 GMT). He described the attack as “inhumane”.

Friday’s conversations in Istanbul, Turkey, did not lead to a breakthrough because Ukraine and Russia remain far apart how to end the war.

However, it was agreed that each party would return 1,000 prisoners of war to the others in the coming days.

Zensky said about the conversations that “as on every day of this war, there was a possibility to stop fire. Ukraine has been offering this for a long time.”

After the discussions of Istanbul, Ukraine repeated his call for a complete and unconditional cease -the fire, but a deal with Russia remained elusive.

Ukraine said that the next step in the process would be direct conversations between Ukrainian President Volodyymyr Zensky and the Russian Vladimir Putin.

Russia said it “had taken knowledge” of the request.

The US has claimed that the progress in the end of the war would only be made if President Donald Trump and Putin would hold face-to-face conversations.

During a visit to the Midden -Oost, Trump told reporters on Air Force One “Nothing is going to happen until Putin and I come together”.

“He didn’t go if I wasn’t there and I don’t believe something will happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I come together,” Trump added.

In February 2022, Russia launched a complete invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine used Sumy to launch offensives in the Kursk region in the Russian Kursk in August. Earlier this year, Russia drove back the majority of Ukraine troops and has intensified cross-border artillery and air strikes in recent months.

Earlier this week before discussions with Ukraine started, Russia carried out drone attacks in the region, killing three people and nine others were injured, according to Sumy’s regional military government.

On Saturday, Ukrainian drones reportedly hit a ammunition depot in De Krim, the region that was annexed illegally by Russia in 2014.

According to Reuters, the Ukraine strike caused the explosion of warehouses where military equipment, weapons and fuel were stored.