Russian drone hits civilian bus in Ukraine, killing nine

Nine people have been killed after a Russian drone hit a civilian bus in north-eastern Ukraine on Saturday morning, local officials have confirmed.

The Sumy regional military administration said the attack happened in the town of Bilopillia as the bus was travelling toward the regional capital, Sumy, near the Russian border.

Four other people were injured.

Ukraine's national police condemned the incident, calling it a "cynical war crime."

In a statement, the police said: "The Russian army has once again struck a civilian object, disregarding all norms or international law and humanity."

Sumy regional head Oleh Hryhorov said the drone strike took place at 06:17 local time.

He said the vehicle was hit by a Russian Lancet drone, describing the act as "inhumane."

Russia has not directly commented on the bus attack but claimed it had hit a "military staging area" in Sumy.

The strike came just hours after Ukraine and Russia held their first direct peace talks since 2022.

The meeting, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, ended without a breakthrough, as both sides remain far apart on how to end the war.

However, both countries agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war in the coming days.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In recent months, it has intensified cross-border artillery and air attacks, especially after Ukraine used Sumy as a base to launch offensives into Russia’s Kursk region in August.

Russia pushed most of the Ukrainian troops back earlier this year.