{"id":137768,"date":"2025-05-17T12:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T12:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-live-mother-father-and-daughter-killed-in-russian-strike-on-bus-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T12:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T12:09:07","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-live-mother-father-and-daughter-killed-in-russian-strike-on-bus-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-live-mother-father-and-daughter-killed-in-russian-strike-on-bus-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war live: Mother, father and daughter killed in Russian strike on bus – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ukraine says \u2018next step\u2019 would be Zelensky and Putin\u2019s meeting after first talks since 2022 end
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Nine people were killed when a Russian drone struck a passenger bus in north-eastern Ukraine<\/a>, just hours after Moscow<\/a> and Kyiv held their first face-to-face peace talks since the war began.
Medics, emergency services, and police rushed to the scene of the strike in Bilopillia town in Ukraine\u2019s Sumy region on Saturday morning, according to the head of the regional military administration.
The deadly attack came just hours after Russia<\/a> and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, following brief peace talks in Turkey<\/a> that lasted less than two hours.
Kyiv was far less positive about the talks, accusing Moscow of making \u201cunacceptable demands\u201d which were \u201cdetached from reality\u201d.
Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> said he has spoken to Donald Trump<\/a> over the phone after the talks as he began rallying its allies for tougher action on Russia.
Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Zelensky agreed the Russian position in peace talks was “unacceptable”, the British prime minister said, adding that they had spoken with Mr Trump.<\/a><\/a>
Russian attacks have killed at least 13 people and injured 32 across Ukraine over the past 24 hours, according to local authorities.
Russian forces launched a drone assault across Ukraine overnight, using 62 drones from Russia and occupied Crimea, according to Ukraine\u2019s Air Force.
Ukrainian Air Force shot down 36 drones over multiple regions. Six decoy UAVs were lost through electronic warfare and did not reach their targets, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each in their first talks for more than three years.
But the two sides fell short of negotiating a ceasefire as Kyiv said Moscow had presented conditions that were \u201cnon-starters\u201d.
Following the drone strike Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that there are currently seven wounded people in hospital.
He said: \u201cThe victims have suffered burns, fractures, and blast injuries.
\u201cAll of them are receiving the necessary medical assistance. Tragically, nine people were killed. All the details are being verified.
\u201cAccording to preliminary reports, the Russians killed a family: father, mother, and daughter died in the attack.\u201d
\u201cMy condolences to all the families and loved ones,\u201d he added.
He claimed: \u201cThe Russians could not have failed to understand what kind of vehicle they were targeting. This was a deliberate killing of civilians.\u201d
Nine people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a civilian minibus in north-eastern Ukraine
Regional military leaders said seven other people were injured in the attack on Saturday morning in Bilopillia, Sumy, as the minibus travelled to the regional capital close to Russia’s border.
Medics, emergency services, and police rushed to the scene of the strike in Bilopillia town in Ukraine\u2019s Sumy region on Saturday morning, according to the head of the regional military administration.
Images show the bus was badly damaged.
Here is what Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s peace delegation, said after Istanbul talks. <\/em>
In general, we are satisfied with the result and are ready to continue contacts. In the coming days, there will be a massive thousand-for-thousand prisoner exchange.
The Ukrainian side requested direct talks between the leaders of the states. We have taken note of this request.
We have agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and spell it out in detail. After such a vision has been presented, we believe it would be appropriate, as also agreed, to continue our negotiations.
US senator have renewed calls for Congress to pass sanctions on Russia after Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks showed little progress, but no votes were scheduled on bills introduced six weeks ago aimed at pressuring Moscow to negotiate seriously.
Kyiv and Moscow’s first direct talks in more than three years on Friday ended in well under two hours, with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as “non-starters.”
Russian President Vladimir \u201cPutin will continue stonewalling and slow-walking ceasefire efforts till his economy is hit hard — isolating it on a financial island,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said in a statement urging a vote on sanctions legislation.
Mr Blumenthal and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill on 1 April that is intended to make it more difficult for Russia to fund its war by adding provisions like a 500 per cent tariff on imports to the US from countries that buy Russian energy.
The Senate bill now has at least 73 co-sponsors in the 100-member chamber, although leaders have not indicated when it might be brought up for a vote. A similar measure introduced the same day in the House of Representatives has 28 co-sponsors, also from both parties.
Mr Graham, who was in Turkey for a Nato foreign ministers meeting this week, called for the bill’s passage, criticizing Mr Putin’s decision not to attend the talks with Ukraine.
“When it comes to Russia\u2019s games, enough is enough,” Mr Graham said in a statement.
British foreign minister Lammy accused Moscow of obfuscating after talks between Ukraine and Russia on a possible ceasefire ended in less than two hours.
“Yet again we are seeing obfuscation on the Russian side and unwillingness to get serious about the enduring peace that is now required in Ukraine,” Mr Lammy said. “Once again Russia is not serious.”
“At what point do we say to Putin enough is enough?” he said
It came as Donald Trump said “nothing could happen” until he had met directly with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
At the meeting convened by Turkey, the negotiating teams sat opposite one another at a U-shaped table, with the Russians dressed in suits while half of the Ukrainians wore military fatigues.
The atmosphere was calm, a Turkish official said. No concrete timetable or location was agreed for the next talks, the official said, with both sides needing to debrief their leaders first.
The Ukrainians spoke in their own language through an interpreter, a Ukrainian source said, although Russian is widely spoken in Ukraine.
A Ukrainian and a European source said Russia rejected a Ukrainian request for US representatives to be in the room.
Two sources familiar with the talks said Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s peace delegation said Russia was ready to keep fighting for as long as necessary, drawing a parallel with the wars of Tsar Peter the Great against Sweden, which lasted 21 years in the early 1700s.
“We do not want war, but we are ready to fight for a year, two, three as long as you want,” one of the sources quoted him as saying.
Here is the recap of events since Friday if you are just joining us.
\u2022 Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks since 2022 in Istanbul, at the Dolmabahce Palace. The meeting lasted just under two hours; neither Vladimir Putin nor Volodymyr Zelensky attended
\u2022 No major breakthrough was achieved, with expectations already low ahead of the talks. The only tangible outcome was an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each \u2013 the largest swap of the war
\u2022 Ukraine pushed for a 30-day ceasefire, but Moscow rejected the proposal and stuck to its maximalist demands
\u2022 Ukraine said Russia signalled willingness to continue talks and acknowledged Ukraine’s request for a Zelensky and Putin meeting
\u2022 Zelenskyy reiterated his call for an immediate, full, and honest ceasefire to stop the bloodshed. He also urged further sanctions on Moscow if it refuses to agree to a ceasefire
\u2022 Hours after the talks in Turkey, a Russian drone strike killed nine people in Ukraine\u2019s Sumy after a bus came under attack. Russia said it was targeting targeted a Ukrainian military equipment staging area in the Sumy region
Russia and Ukraine<\/a> have agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each in their first talks<\/a> for more than three years. But the two sides fell short of negotiating a ceasefire as Kyiv said Moscow had presented conditions that were \u201cnon-starters\u201d<\/a>.
Under pressure from US president Donald Trump<\/a> to end the conflict, delegates from the warring countries met for the first time since March 2022, the month after Russia invaded its neighbour.
The negotiations, held in Istanbul\u2019s Dolmabahce Palace and mediated by a Turkish team, took place after a turbulent two days<\/a> cast doubt over whether the meeting would take place at all.
The talks lasted under two hours and there was no immediate announcement on whether or when the sides might meet again, although Russia expressed satisfaction with the meeting and said it was ready to continue contacts.
Ukraine said its next goal is for Vladimir Putin to meet directly with Volodymyr Zelensky; Russia said it had “taken note” of the request.
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Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inUkraine says \u2018next step\u2019 would be Zelensky and Putin\u2019s meeting after first talks since 2022 endFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}