Deadly Russian attack on civilian bus 'a cynical war crime', says Ukraine

A Russian attack on a civilian bus in Ukraine's northeast Sumy region has killed nine people and injured seven others, Ukrainian officials have said.

The drone attack happened in the city of Bilopillia - around six miles from the front-line border with Russia. Follow latest updates on Ukraine war Those on the bus were being evacuated from the city when it was struck, according to local media.

Authorities are still working to identify the victims, most of whom were elderly women, with a father, mother, and daughter also among them, Ukrainian reports said. The injured were taken to a hospital in Sumy city, the capital of the region, where three are thought to be in a serious condition.

A period of mourning has been declared in Bilopillia, with locals pronouncing it "black Saturday". In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as a "Russian drone strike on an ordinary passenger bus".

"The victims have suffered burns, fractures, and blast injuries," he said. "All the deceased were civilians.

And the Russians could not have failed to understand what kind of vehicle they were targeting. This was a deliberate killing of civilians." Russia's TASS state news agency said the defence ministry had claimed Russian forces struck a Ukrainian military equipment staging area in the Sumy region with drones.

The deaths laso prompted a strong response from Ukraine's National Police on the Telegram messaging app: "This is not just another shelling - it is a cynical war crime." Ukrainian police posted photos of a dark blue passenger van nearly destroyed, with the roof torn off and the windows blown out. Failed peace talks The attack comes hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years.

The meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials in Turkey on Friday failed to broker a temporary ceasefire. Read more:Talks revealed a stark reality - analysisUkrainians tortured in Russian jails, evidence showsDefining moments in Trump-Zelenskyy relationship Set up at short notice at Vladimir Putin's behest, he declined a challenge from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet him in person and instead sent relatively junior representatives.

A source in the Ukrainian negotiation team told Sky News that Russia threatened "eternal war" during the talks. They said the Russians were not ready to talk about technical details of a ceasefire and were waiting for superiors to approve them.

Both countries said they agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each, in what would be the biggest such exchange yet of the conflict. But Kyiv wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Donald Trump for a 30-day ceasefire..