According to Ukrainian national police, drone strikes in the Smie region amount to “ironic war crimes.”
A Russian drone strike on a civilian bus killed nine people, Ukraine says. The attack comes hours after the two countries held their first direct peace talks in years.
As the Russian Defense Ministry said it targeted Ukrainian military equipment, officials said on Saturday that four other people were injured in an attack in the Smie region of northeastern Ukraine.
“This isn’t just another artillery fire. It’s a sarcastic war crime,” the Ukrainian national police said in a post on the Telegram messaging app, featuring photos of the badly damaged vehicles.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibikh has condemned the attack as “a deliberate, wild war crime” and has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “fighting a war with civilians.”
Russian TASS News Agency cited a statement from the Ministry of Defense, saying that Russian drones had attacked the staging area of Smie’s Ukrainian military equipment.
Russia has denied targeting civilians since it launched a full-scale Ukraine invasion in February 2022, but thousands have been killed.
The Smie strike came shortly after Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul on Friday to mediate a temporary ceasefire.
The 90-minute talks failed to reach a breakthrough, but ended with agreeing to trade 1,000 prisoners for what will be the biggest exchange since the start of the war in 2022.
Vladimir Medinsky, the leading Russian negotiator, expressed satisfaction with the talks and said Moscow is ready for further negotiations, including a ceasefire. “We agreed that all sides would present their views on the possibility of a ceasefire and set them up in detail,” he said after the meeting.
Sources for the Ukrainian delegation told Reuters that Russia’s demands are “separated from reality and far beyond what has been discussed previously.”
Sources said Moscow has issued the Ultimate to allow Ukraine to withdraw from parts of its territory and get a “other non-start” ceasefire.
Reported by Kyiv, Zein Basravi of Al Jazeera said that Medinsky sent a clear message during negotiations that Moscow was ready to continue the war for many years.
“That’s exactly what they did,” Basrabi said.
In his post on social media after the Smee attack, Ukrainian Sibikha called for further pressure on Russia.
“There should be no illusions. The pressure on Moscow must increase to put an end to Russia’s fears,” the Foreign Minister wrote.
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