Nine people have been killed after a Russian drone struck a bus transporting workers in Ukraine, officials report. The attack occurred Wednesday morning in the city of Marhanets, located in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region across the Dnieper River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Regional governor Serhiy Lysak confirmed the fatalities and said at least 30 people were injured in the strike. “The number of victims is constantly growing,” he added.
Photos released by Lysak show a bus heavily damaged by the attack, with a gaping hole in the roof, doors torn from their hinges, and shattered glass strewn across the floor. Bloodstains are also visible inside the vehicle. Officials believe the bus was deliberately targeted. Russia has not commented on the incident.
This attack coincides with ongoing drone strikes in Kharkiv—Ukraine’s second-largest city—for the second consecutive day.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia have faced setbacks. A high-level summit in London on Wednesday has been downgraded, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff no longer attending. In their place, Gen. Keith Kellogg—Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy—is representing the U.S.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, but foreign ministers are notably absent from the broader discussions. Witkoff, a property developer and close ally of Trump, has recently acted as a key intermediary between the U.S. and Kremlin. He is scheduled to return to Moscow for further talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
These developments follow reports that the U.S. is considering recognizing Crimea—annexed by Russia in 2014—as Russian territory in exchange for peace. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the idea outright.
Putin recently declared a 30-hour ceasefire for Easter Sunday, which Ukraine said it would honor. Each side, however, accused the other of violating the temporary truce.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or injured across both nations. As international leaders scramble to secure peace, the conflict continues to take a heavy toll on civilians.
