Russian drone strike in Ukraine kills 9, injures 4 after peace talks, officials say
A Russian drone strike hit a passenger bus in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, killing nine people and injuring four others, Ukrainian officials allege.
The attack came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian officials held their first direct peace talks in years, although the two sides failed to reach a ceasefire agreement for the conflict that began with a February 2022 invasion by Moscow.
Ukraine's national police released photos showing the aftermath of Saturday's strike in the city of Bilopillia in the Sumy region. The city is about six miles from the front line and border with Russia.
"This is another war crime by Russia — a deliberate strike on civilian transport that posed no threat," the Sumy regional administration said on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as "deliberate killing of civilians."
A mourning period has been declared in Bilopillia from Saturday through Monday. Local community chief Yurii Zarko called the day of the attack "Black Saturday."
The passengers on the bus were being evacuated from Bilopillia when the drone struck, according to local media outlet Suspilne. Authorities were working to identify some of the victims, most of whom were elderly women.
The injured victims were transported to a hospital in Sumy, the regional capital. Three people were listed in serious condition.
On Saturday morning, Russia's defense ministry claimed its forces hit a military staging area in the Sumy region, around 31 miles southeast of Bilopillia, but did not mention any other attacks in the area.
It was not immediately clear how the strike would affect peace efforts.
On Friday, Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Turkey in an attempt to reach a temporary ceasefire, but the talks ended in less than two hours without a truce. The negotiations were the first face-to-face talks between the two countries since the early weeks of the war.
Both sides agreed on a large prisoner swap, but remained far apart on key conditions for ending the conflict.
One condition for Ukraine, which has the backing of its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement. Russia, however, has pushed back against the truce, which remains elusive.
In Turkey, Russia and Ukraine agreed to each exchange 1,000 prisoners of war in what would be their biggest such swap, according to the heads of both delegations. Both sides also talked about a ceasefire and a meeting between their heads of state, according to chief Ukrainian delegate, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said both sides also agreed to provide each other with detailed ceasefire proposals, with Ukraine requesting the heads of state meeting that Russia took under consideration.
Zelenskyy said he discussed the negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of France, Germany, the U.K. and Poland. On X, he called for "tough sanctions" against Moscow if it rejects "a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings."
Zelenskyy was in Tirana, Albania, on Friday, to meet with leaders of 47 European countries to discuss security, defense and democratic standards. The leaders he met 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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
3 hours ago
- Wall Street Journal
NATO's New Military Realism
Welcome news last week was that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may soon aim for members to spend 5% of their economies on defense. The details are still to come at the alliance's summit this month. But America's friends in Europe are finally waking up, or at least most of them are, from their long nap since the 1990s and taking national survival seriously. 'I will propose an overall investment plan that would total 5% of GDP in defence investment,' NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Thursday in Brussels. Members could count up to 1.5 percentage points of GDP for peripheral defense investment such as hardening roads for military transport. But even 3.5% dedicated to military spending is a sea change in Europe, up from the current 2% minimum target. Credit Mr. Rutte for realism about the threat: The Russians have 'only a $2 trillion economy compared to a $50 trillion economy for NATO' but are 'producing four times more in terms of ammunition.' NATO's job is to 'make sure that collectively we have what we need to prevent us from taking Russian language courses.' President Trump has been pressing the 5% target in his unsubtle browbeating that the Europeans must manage more of their own defense. No question the 5% is more appropriate for the threat and could motivate defense scofflaws such as Spain (1.28% in 2024) and Canada (1.37%). Several NATO allies on the Russian front lines understand the stakes: Poland is already above 4% on defense spending, and the Baltic states are heading to 5% without NATO's institutional prodding.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
'No grounds for evacuation' from Sumy, official says amid Russian offensive into region
There are currently no plans for mass civilian evacuations from the city of Sumy, regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov said on June 8, as Russian advances into Sumy Oblast have continued to gain momentum. "There are currently no grounds for evacuation from the city of Sumy. The situation along the Sumy Oblast border is tense but under control of the Defense Forces," Hryhorov said on social media, referencing concerns on social media from residents. Sumy Oblast has seen escalating attacks in recent weeks as Russia intensifies cross-border operations. Russian advances into Sumy have gained momentum since Ukrainian forces withdrew from most of their foothold in Russia's Kursk Oblast in March. Sumy Oblast, which borders Russia to the north, has been a repeated target of Russian incursions and shelling since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Sumy has repeatedly suffered from Russian strikes on the city. On June 3, Russian on the city killed four people and injured 28 others, including three children. On May 31, Hryhorov announced mandatory evacuation orders for 11 more villages due to intensifying attacks, bringing the total number of evacuated settlements in Sumy Oblast to 213. The open-source battlefield monitoring group DeepState reported on June 8 that Russian forces have occupied the village of Loknia in Sumy Oblast, as the advances on small settlements along the border continues. Ukraine's military has not yet commented on the reported advance, and the Kyiv Independent cannot independently verify the reporting. In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to create a so-called "security buffer zone" along the border with Ukraine, while President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 28 that Moscow had massed 50,000 troops near Sumy. Read also: As 50,000 Russian troops amass, Ukraine's Sumy Oblast braces for potential large-scale offensiveWe've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
'They could be here in two days': Ukrainian town braces for Russian advance
Sitting on camping chairs with sunglasses and sodas in hand, Yevgen and his friends soaked up the searing Mezhova sun. Russia has said it is advancing into the surrounding eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk for the first time in its three-year invasion. Mezhova, a town just 13 kilometres from the flashpoint Donetsk region, now risks becoming a target for a Russian ground offensive. Few locals dare venture into the nearest village to the east, where drones reportedly strike nearly every vehicle. Yevgen Grinshenko, 26, and his friends fled Pokrovsk, a Donetsk mining town that has suffered intense Russian-Ukrainian clashes. "I'm no longer afraid of anything. We've been through it all," said the round-faced aid volunteer, wounded by Russian projectiles in Pokrovsk. "That fear has become a part of my life," he told AFP. But the apparent calm in the town is deceptive. Most of its original residents have fled, said Yevgen. "Everyone who remains is displaced." Since an order to evacuate local children was issued last month by the authorities, the town is "panicking a bit", an elderly passerby told AFP. - Explosive drones - In Mezhova, colourful Soviet-era cars have been replaced by khaki 4x4s, and eerily quiet streets are patrolled by soldiers. Olga Motuzenko, a 66-year-old teacher, fled fighting in Pokrovsk and reached Mezhova. Wearing a small white lace hat, she was selling onions from her garden by the side of the road. "They could be here in two days," she said. She and her husband had believed Mezhova would be safe, that the front would hold. "But it didn't work out," she said with a sigh. Her home in Pokrovsk "no longer exists", and she had to leave with her husband, taking barely half of their belongings. "I don't feel good here. We are thinking about moving elsewhere again," she murmured in a frail voice. For now, she stays so her ailing husband can still receive treatment. What would force her to leave? "If everything is bombed." But Russian explosive drones already fly overhead, and some vehicles have been hit, she said. - Russians 'very close' - Lieutenant Colonel Oleksander came to a cafe to mark his 60th birthday with fellow soldiers -- a celebration he once pictured sharing with his wife and grandchildren, not on the front lines. "It's unfortunately true, fighting is happening here and there," the trim-moustached officer said, warning that the Russians "are already very close" to the regional border. "They are advancing slowly, very slowly, but they are advancing." In fruitless talks with Ukraine, Russia demanded recognition of its annexation of Crimea and four other regions where its forces are deployed -- including Donetsk -- as a condition for any negotiations. Asked whether he feared Moscow might lay claim to a sixth Ukrainian region, Oleksander brushed off the idea. "They could claim all of Ukraine belongs to them. It won't matter. Our resistance won't change," he declared. For his 60th birthday, Oleksander had just one wish -- for the war to end quickly. He was weary of seeing young people "die every day". "It's hard," he said. "Impossible to accept." fv/srg/rlp
