The Daily Populous Saturday May 17th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by bbc.com and submitted by redcccp

Nine killed in Russian strike on civilian bus in Ukraine

5 hours ago Share Save Jaroslav Lukiv BBC News Share Save

Sumy regional military administration The bus was hit in the town of Bilopillia, Ukrainian officials say

Nine people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a civilian minibus in north-eastern Ukraine, officials say. Regional military leaders said seven others were also injured in the attack on Saturday morning in Bilopillia as a minibus travelled to Sumy, the regional capital close to Russia's border. The strike occurred just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in more than three years. Little was achieved but a prisoner swap was agreed. Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky said the attack on the bus was "a deliberate killing of civilians". Russia has not commented but state media reported that forces had hit a "military staging area" in the Sumy province.

Zelensky said Russian forces "could not help but understand what kind of vehicle they were hitting". He said a family - a mother, father and their daughter - were among those killed in the attack. Citing preliminary information, Sumy's regional head Oleh Hryhorov 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 "inhumane". Friday's talks in Istanbul, Turkey, did not lead to any breakthrough as Ukraine and Russia remain far apart on how to end the war. However, it was agreed that each side would return 1,000 prisoners of war to the other in the coming days. Zelensky said of the talks that "as on any day of this war, there was an opportunity to cease fire. Ukraine has been offering this for a long time".

ghartok-padhome on May 17th, 2025 at 10:22 UTC »

Just disgraceful. Russia is an evil country.

pikachuswayless on May 17th, 2025 at 06:37 UTC »

Being the good guys in an unjust war must take incredible strength. I'm sure Ukraine has the ability to randomly attack civilians, but they still aren't doing it because it's sadistic as fuck.

Russia has been doing this and worse for 3+ years and Ukraine still won't stoop to their level. It's incredible.

GreyDaveNZ on May 17th, 2025 at 05:41 UTC »

Fuck Putin.