Nine people were killed in a Russian drone attack on a civilian bus in northeast Ukraine, according to local officials.
The regional military administration of Sumy said that four other people had been injured in the city of Bilopillia on Saturday morning when the bus went to the regional capital Sumy, which is close to the border of Russia.
The reported attack occurs just a few hours after Russia and Ukraine have held their first direct peace talks since 2022. No breakthrough has been made, although a small exchange of prisoner of war was agreed.
The national police of Ukraine described the attack as a “cynical war crime”. Russia did not comment directly but said that it had struck a “military staging zone” in Sumy.
In a statement, the police service said: “The Russian army has again struck a civilian object, without taking into account all standards or international law and humanity.”
Citing preliminary information, the regional director of Sumy, Oleh Hryhorov, said that the bus had been hit by a Russian Lancet drone at 06:17 Local time on Saturday (03:17 GMT).
He described the attack as “inhuman”.
Friday talks in Istanbul, Turkey, have led to no breakthrough while Ukraine and Russia remain far from the way of ending the war.
However, it has been agreed that each party would make 1,000 prisoners of war in others in the coming days.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
