Nine reported killed in a Russian civilian bus in Ukraine

Nine people were killed in a Russian drones attack on a civilian minibus in northeastern Ukraine, local officials say.

Regional military leaders said seven other people were injured in the attack on Saturday morning in Bilopilia, as the minibus travels to the regional capital close to the Russia border.

The report came only hours after Russia and Ukraine had held their first direct peace talks of 2022. No breakthrough had been reached, although a supply was agreed for a prisoner.

Volodymr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, said the attack was “deliberate murder of civilians”. Russia has not commented directly, but state -reported forces have affected a “war zone” in amounts.

Zelenski added that Russian forces “can’t help but understand what kind of vehicle they hit.”

Referring to preliminary information, the regional leader of the sums Oleh Hristo said the bus was hit by a Russian lancet drone at 06:17 local time on Saturday (03:17 GMT). He described the attack as “inhuman”.

Talks on Friday in Istanbul, Turkey, did not lead to any breakthrough, as Ukraine and Russia remain far apart how to end the war.

According to it, however, each country would return 1,000 prisoners of war to the other in the coming days.

Zelenski told the conversations that “as in every day of this war, there was an opportunity to end the fire. Ukraine offered this a long time ago.”

After the discussions in Istanbul, Ukraine repeated his call for a complete and unconditional termination of fire, but a deal with Russia remained elusive.

Ukraine said the next step in the process will be direct conversations between Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski and Russian Vladimir Putin.

Russia said it “noticed” the request.

The United States claims that progress in ending war will only be achieved if President Donald Trump and Putin are talking face -to -face.

During a visit to the Middle East, Trump told Air Force One reporters “Nothing will happen until Putin and I get together.”

“He didn’t go if I wasn’t there and I don’t believe something would happen, whether you like it or not while he and I get together,” Trump added.

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

Ukraine uses sums to release offensives in the Russian Kursk region in August. Russia chased away the majority of Ukraine’s troops earlier this year and has strengthened cross-border artillery and air attacks in recent months.

Earlier this week, before the talks with Ukraine began, Russia made drones throughout the region, killing three people and wounds nine others, according to the Regional Military Administration of sums.

On Saturday, Ukrainian drones reported that the depot of ammunition in Crimea, the region illegally applied by Russia in 2014.

According to Reuters, the strike of Ukraine caused the detonation of warehouses where military equipment, weapons and fuel are stored.