A Russian drone struck a passenger bus in the northeast region of Sumy in Ukraine on Saturday, killing nine people and injuring four others, Ukrainian officials said. The attack occurred only a few hours after Moscow and kyiv held their first direct peace talks over the years that have not given a cease-fire.
The national police of Ukraine published photos showing the consequences of the strike in the city of Bilopillia de Sumy, about 6 miles from the front line and the border with Russia.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the details of the incident. There was no comments from Moscow.
“This is another war crime by Russia – a deliberate strike on civilian transport that threatened any threat,” said the regional administration of Sumy in an article on the Telegram messaging application.
On Friday, Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Türkiye to try to reach a temporary ceasefire, but the talks ended after less than two hours without breakthrough. It was the first face -to -face dialogue between the two parties since the first weeks of the large -scale invasion of Ukraine Moscow 2022.
And while the two parties agreed with a large exchange of prisoners, they clearly remained distant under key conditions to end the fighting.
Such a condition for Ukraine, supported by its Western allies, is a temporary cease-fire as the first step towards a peaceful regulation. The Kremlin has rejected against such a truce, which remains elusive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had discussed talks with American president Donald Trump and the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland. In an article on X of a European management meeting in Albania, he urged “difficult sanctions” against Moscow if she rejects “a complete and unconditional ceasefire and the end of the murders”.
In Istanbul, kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the chiefs of the two delegations, in what would be their greatest exchange of this type.
The two parties also discussed a ceasefire and a meeting between their heads of state, according to the Ukrainian chief delegate, the Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov.
Medinsky, assistant to President Vladimir Putin, said the two parties had agreed to provide each other with detailed ceasefire proposals, Ukraine asking for the head of state meeting, which Russia has taken into account.
