Zelensky says people killed in Sumy bus attack were civilians

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Saturday of deliberately killing civilians in a drone attack on a bus that left nine people dead in Sumy region.

"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," he said in a post on X that was accompanied by a photo showing a van that had been destroyed.

Ukrainian sources said earlier that nine people had been killed in the attack, in the border town of Bilopillia in Ukraine's Sumy region.

Seven people were injured. Zelensky said they suffered burns and broken bones.

The attack came the day after Russian-Ukrainian talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, launched by Russia more than three years ago.

Zelensky said he saw the attack as further proof that Russia has no interest in a ceasefire and demanded stronger pressure in the form of sanctions on Moscow in order to stop the killing.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy also condemned the attack.

"Appalled by Russia’s attack in Sumy, mere hours after talks in Türkiye," Lammy later posted on X, using an alternative spelling of Turkey.

"If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is serious about peace, Russia must agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, as Ukraine has done," he said.