Nine people were killed in the attack by Russian drone on civilian buses in northeastern Ukraine, local officials said.
The Smie Regional Military Regime said four other people were injured in the town of Bilopiria on Saturday morning as the bus moved to the capital Sami, a region near the Russian border.
The reported attack comes just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks since 2022. A prisoner exchange was agreed, but no breakthrough was achieved.
The Ukrainian national police described the bus attack as “a sarcastic war crime.” Russia did not comment directly, but said it was a hit in Smie’s “military staging area.”
In a statement, police said: “The Russian military has once again struck civilian purposes, ignoring all norms, international law and humanity,” he said.
Citing the preliminary information, Sumy Regional Head Oleh Hryhorov said the bus was attacked by a Russian lancet drone at 06:17 local time on Saturday (03:17 GMT).
He described the attack as “inhuman.”
Friday talks in Istanbul, Turkey, did not lead to a breakthrough as Ukraine and Russia remained far apart on how to end the war.
However, it has been agreed that each side will return 1,000 prisoners to the other in the next few days.
Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine used Sumy to launch an attack on Russia’s Kursk region in August. Russia drove the majority of Ukrainian forces earlier this year, and in recent months it has intensified cross-border artillery and air force attacks.
