KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A Russian drone on Saturday hit a bus evacuating civilians from a front-line area in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, killing nine people and injuring seven, Ukrainian officials said, hours after Moscow and Kyiv had held their first direct peace talks in years that failed to yield a ceasefire.
Local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov and Ukraine’s national police said the attack was in Bilopillia, a town around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Russia. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the report and there was no immediate comment from Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “deliberate killing of civilians.” He said in a post on Telegram messaging app that the “Russians could scarcely not realize what kind of vehicle they were hitting.”
He lamented the missed opportunity from the talks on Friday, saying that “Ukraine has long proposed this – a full and unconditional ceasefire in order to save lives.”
“Russia only retains the ability to continue killing,” Zelenskyy added.
In Bilopillia, a period of mourning was declared through Monday, with local community chief Yurii Zarko calling the day “Black Saturday.”
The local media outlet Suspilne said the passengers on the bus were being evacuated from the twon when the strike happened. 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, with three people 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 there.
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 last 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.
Russian and Ukrainian officials met Friday 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 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.
Zelenskyy said he had discussed the talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Poland. In a post on X from a European leadership meeting in Albania on Friday, 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. The sides also discussed a ceasefire and a meeting between their heads of state, according to the chief Ukrainian delegate, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
But Russian delegation head Vladimir 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.
In Tirana, Albania, Zelenskyy met with leaders of 47 European countries to discuss security, defense and democratic standards against the backdrop of the war. They included 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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