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Politics
Russia strikes passenger bus in Ukraine, 5 killed and 7 injured, says Zelenskyy
Five people were killed and seven others injured after a Russian drone struck a passenger minibus near Nikopol in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said
Zelenskyy said the vehicle was an ordinary intercity minibus and was hit by an FPV drone early in the morning. The injured passengers were taken for medical treatment, he said.
The reported strike came amid a fresh escalation in fighting, with Ukrainian forces claiming gains in the northern part of Donetsk and Russia continuing attacks on several Ukrainian regions.
Zelenskyy also said Russian forces targeted railway infrastructure in different parts of Ukraine, including a passenger train in the Mykolaiv region.
Ukraine’s state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said, as reported by Anadolu Ajansi, that train No. 122, travelling from Kyiv to Mykolaiv, came under attack,.
Passengers and railway staff were evacuated after receiving an advance warning, preventing casualties on the train, according to the operator. Zelenskyy said nearly 170 passengers were moved to safety.
The attack damaged a railway station and a locomotive in the Mykolaiv region, while an electric locomotive was also struck in Kovel in the Volyn region, he said.
Zelenskyy added that Russian strikes were reported in Kyiv, Kherson, Donetsk and Poltava regions. Emergency teams were also dealing with a fire in Kyiv that had started overnight.
Russia has not yet publicly responded to Zelenskyy’s claims about the latest strikes.
The attacks came as Ukraine reported progress in its military operations in the northern part of Donetsk region.
According to a Reuters report, Brigadier-General Andrii Biletskyi said Ukraine’s Third Army Corps had launched an operation called “Vivaldi” in the area.
Biletskyi, who has been overseeing Ukrainian defences there since last month, said Ukrainian troops had cleared Russian infiltration groups from around 75 square kilometres in the region and retaken another 10 square kilometres.
The latest battlefield developments also come as Moscow has responded positively to US President Donald Trump’s proposal for Russia and Ukraine to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure.
Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed not to target energy facilities. Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has formally confirmed such an agreement.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the proposal a “very good idea”, but said a broader arrangement would be needed to reduce global fuel prices.
Peskov also called for safe commercial shipping and navigation, including for oil tankers, and sought the removal of sanctions imposed on Russia.
Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine is prepared to support an energy ceasefire if Washington can establish that Russia is genuinely ready to stop the war.