KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian drone struck a passenger bus in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region on Saturday, killing nine people and injuring four others, Ukrainian officials said, hours after Moscow and Kyiv had held their first direct peace talks in years which failed to yield a ceasefire.
Local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov and Ukraine’s national police said the attack took place in Bilopillia, a town around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the front line and border with Russia.
The Associated Press could not independently verify details of the strike and there was no immediate comment about it from Moscow.
“This is another war crime by Russia — a deliberate strike on civilian transport that posed no threat,” the Sumy regional administration said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
A period of mourning has been declared in Bilopillia from Saturday through Monday, with local community chief Yurii Zarko calling the day of the attack “Black Saturday.”
The local media outlet Suspilne said the passengers on the bus were being evacuated from Bilopillia when the strike occurred. Authorities are working to identify some of the victims, most of them elderly women.
The injured were taken to a hospital in Sumy, the regional capital. Three people were reported to be in serious condition.
On Saturday morning, Russia’s defense ministry claimed its forces hit a military staging area in the Sumy region, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) southeast of Bilopillia, without mentioning any other attacks.
According to a Washington-based think tank, Ukrainian forces have been inching forward into Russian territory in the Kursk region, just north of Bilopillia. According to the report lat week by the Institute for the Study of War, Kyiv’s troops had advanced south of the Russian border village of Tyotkino.
Russia said last month that its forces had fully reclaimed the Kursk region, nearly nine months after a lightning incursion by Kyiv captured more than 100 settlements there and promised to hand Ukraine a bargaining chip in possible negotiations with the Kremlin. Ukrainian officials claimed fighting in Kursk is ongoing.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Saturday’s strike would affect peace efforts.
From left, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama attend a plenary meeting at the beginning of a summit where the leaders of 47 European countries and organizations will discuss security, defense and democratic standards, in Tirana, Albania, Friday, May 16, 2025. (Leon Neal/Pool via AP)
From left, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama attend a plenary meeting at the beginning of a summit where the leaders of 47 European countries and organizations will discuss security, defense and democratic standards, in Tirana, Albania, Friday, May 16, 2025. (Leon Neal/Pool via AP)
On Friday, Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Turkey in an attempt to reach a temporary ceasefire, but the talks ended after less than two hours without a breakthrough. It was the first face-to-face dialogue between the two sides since the early weeks of Moscow’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
And while both sides agreed on a large prisoner swap, they clearly remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting.
One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement. The Kremlin has pushed back against such a truce, which remains elusive.
President of France Emmanuel Macron, left, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a summit where the leaders of 47 European countries and organizations will discuss security, defense and democratic standards, in Tirana, Albania, Friday, May 16, 2025. (Leon Neal/Pool via AP)
President of France Emmanuel Macron, left, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a summit where the leaders of 47 European countries and organizations will discuss security, defense and democratic standards, in Tirana, Albania, Friday, May 16, 2025. (Leon Neal/Pool via AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed the talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of France, Germany, the U.K. and Poland. In a post on X from a European leadership meeting in Albania, he urged “tough sanctions” against Moscow if it rejects “a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings.”
Kyiv and Moscow agreed in Istanbul to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the heads of both delegations, in what would be their biggest such swap. Both sides also discussed a ceasefire and a meeting between their heads of state, according to chief Ukrainian delegate, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, said both sides also agreed to provide each other with detailed ceasefire proposals, with Ukraine requesting the heads of state meeting, which Russia took under consideration.
Zelenskyy was in Tirana, Albania, on Friday, meeting with leaders of 47 European countries to discuss security, defense and democratic standards against the backdrop of the war.
He met with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“Pressure on Russia must be maintained until Russia is ready to end the war,” Zelenskyy said on X, posting a photo of the leaders during the call, the second for the group since May 10.
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Arhirova reported from Istanbul.
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