According to Ukrainian officials, a bus evacuating civilians from a front-line area in Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region was struck by a Russian drone on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of nine individuals. This incident occurred shortly after Moscow and Kyiv’s first direct peace negotiations in years, which did not lead to a ceasefire agreement.
The attack took place in Bilopillia, a town located approximately 10 kilometers from Russia’s border. In addition to the fatalities, seven people sustained injuries, with three of them in critical condition, as reported by local Governor Oleh Hryhorov and Ukraine’s national police. The Associated Press was unable to independently confirm the information, and there has been no response from Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the assault as a “deliberate killing of civilians,” expressing disbelief that the Russian operators would not have been aware of the nature of the target they were attacking. Zelenskyy shared his remarks on the Telegram messaging app.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Saturday held open the possibility of Putin holding talks with Zelenskyy, providing the agreed prisoner swap goes ahead and if Russian and Ukrainian delegations reached unspecified further “agreements”.
Peskov also told reporters that Moscow will present Ukraine with a list of conditions for a ceasefire but gave no timeframe, or say what needed to happen before Zelenskyy and Putin can meet.
In Tirana, Albania, Zelenskyy met with leaders of 47 European countries to discuss security, defense and democratic standards against the backdrop of the war, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK 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.
Macron in Tirana on Saturday accused Putin of “cynicism” and said that Russia has failed to “respect” ceasefire proposals backed by the US and other Western nations.
The French president reiterated that a European “coalition of the willing” is ready to give Ukraine security guarantees and “put pressure on Russia”, something he said he expected Trump would support.
“Faced with President Putin’s cynicism, I believe that … in fact, I’m sure that President Trump, concerned about the credibility of the United States of America, will react,” he said.
