Russian attack kills 9, Ukraine says, just hours after peace talks

A Russian drone hit a bus, killing nine people and injuring four more in the region of Sumy, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, in an attack that took place hours after Moscow and Kyiv held their first direct peace talks in years.

“This is not just another shelling — it is a cynical war crime,” Ukraine’s National Police said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia’s TASS state news agency reported, citing a statement from the defence ministry, that Russian forces struck a Ukrainian military equipment staging area in the Sumy region with drones.

The meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials in Turkey on Friday failed to broker a temporary ceasefire. It was the first direct dialogue between the two sides since the early months of the war that Russia launched in February 2022.

Ihor Tkachenko, head of Sumy’s military administration, said on Telegram that a rescue operation was under way.

Ukraine’s police posted photos of a dark blue passenger van nearly destroyed, with the roof torn off and the windows blown out.

Reuters could not independently verify the Ukrainian and Russian reports. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks, but thousands have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainians.