In a devastating escalation of conflict, a Russian drone attack early Wednesday morning struck a bus transporting workers in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets, killing nine people and injuring over 30. The assault was part of a larger wave of strikes targeting civilian infrastructure across eastern, southern, and central Ukraine, Ukrainian officials reported.
The drone strike occurred as the bus was en route to an industrial facility, according to Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council. Emergency responders quickly arrived at the scene, but the damage had already been done. The regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, confirmed the death toll and noted that dozens more were wounded in the violent attack.
Elsewhere in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a separate drone assault on the Synelnykivskyi district injured two individuals and ignited a fire at an agricultural business. Emergency crews worked tirelessly through the night to extinguish flames and attend to the wounded.
The city of Poltava, located in central Ukraine, also experienced a large-scale drone bombardment that injured at least six people and caused significant destruction. The Ukrainian emergency service emphasized that the attack was aimed entirely at civilian structures—homes, businesses, warehouses, and garages—resulting in several fires throughout the night.
Further south, in the suburbs of the Black Sea port city of Odesa, two civilians were injured in another drone strike that caused multiple fires. In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, massive blazes erupted following a drone assault, as confirmed by Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
Air defense systems in the Kyiv region were activated to repel drone attacks, though no damage was immediately reported.
These attacks come amid delicate geopolitical developments. Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have recently expressed tentative interest in negotiating an agreement to prohibit strikes on civilian targets. Should direct negotiations occur, it would mark the first formal talks between the two nations since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Coinciding with these violent incidents, U.S., European, and Ukrainian officials are gathering in London today for further peace discussions. Last week, a similar meeting was held in Paris. According to a report by Axios, Ukraine is expected to respond to a proposed peace framework that controversially suggests Kyiv acknowledge Russian control of occupied territories.
Meanwhile, the Russian defense ministry announced that its forces had intercepted and destroyed 11 Ukrainian drones overnight across various Russian regions and over Crimea. No damage was reported on the Russian side, and Moscow has yet to comment on the deadly strikes in Ukraine.
As peace talks continue, the scale and intensity of these attacks underscore the urgent need for a diplomatic resolution to prevent further civilian loss and suffering.
