Russian drone strike on bus in Ukraine kills 12

A Russian drone strike on a bus in Ukraine has killed at least 12 people, emergency services have said.

Several more were wounded in the attack on the bus, which was carrying mineworkers in the southeastern city of Dnipro.

Ukraine‘s emergency service said a fire broke out after the strike but was extinguished by firefighters.

It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed trilateral talks between Ukraine, US and Russia would go ahead on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.

Mr Zelenskyy said: “There is already an agreement on a meeting – a trilateral meeting – at the appropriate level. This meeting will take place next week, as planned, on Wednesday and Thursday in the Emirates, like last time.”

Energy company DTEK said Russian forces had carried out a “massive terrorist attack” on a company mine in the region and all the dead and wounded were its employees returning from a shift.

“Today, the enemy carried out a cynical and targeted attack on energy sector workers ‍in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” energy minister Denys Shmyhal said.

The company and energy minister initially said 15 were killed in the strike.

Mr Zelenskyy said on Telegram: “Today’s Russian strike on a bus in the Dnipropetrovsk region is a crime, a demonstrative crime, which once again shows that it is Russia that is responsible for the escalation. Evil must be stopped.”

It comes after Russia launched 90 attack drones overnight, with 14 striking nine locations, according to Ukraine’s air force.

A woman and a man were also killed in an overnight strike in Dnipro, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said earlier.

Russian shelling also hit central Kherson in southern Ukraine, seriously wounding a 59-year-old woman, according to a Facebook post by the municipal military administration.

A drone also hit a maternity hospital in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, the Ukrainian emergency service said, injuring three women and sparking a fire in the gynaecology reception area that was later extinguished. Regional administration head Ivan Fedorov later said the number of wounded had risen to six.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had used operational-tactical aviation, attack drones, missile forces and artillery to strike transport infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces.

It also said Russian air defences had shot down 21 Ukrainian drones flying over southwestern and western Russia, and did not mention any casualties or damage.

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Earlier on Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy announced the next round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv would take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

Envoys from Russia, Ukraine and the US had been expected to meet in Abu Dhabi next week to continue negotiations aimed at ending Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

In another Telegram post on Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy said: “We have just had a report from our negotiating team. The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set: Feb 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi.

“Ukraine is ready for substantive talks, and we are interested in an outcome that will bring us closer to a real and dignified end to the war.”

Later he added: “I have scheduled a meeting for tomorrow to agree on the framework of the conversation and prepare everything. On Monday evening, the team will be on its way to the negotiations.”

Although Ukrainian and Russian officials have agreed in principle with US President Donald Trump’s calls for a compromise, Moscow and Kyiv are at odds over what an actual agreement should look like.

One key issue is whether Russia should keep or withdraw from areas of Ukraine its forces have occupied, especially Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, the Donbas, and whether it should be given land there it has not yet captured.