At least 12 people were killed on Sunday after a Russian drone struck a bus carrying mine workers in Ukraine’s central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, according to officials.
Police said the bus was travelling near the town of Ternivka, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the front line.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said the victims were returning from one of its mining facilities in the region after completing their shift.
Images released by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed what appeared to be an empty bus, with its side windows shattered and the windscreen hanging loose at the front.
“The enemy drone struck near a company shuttle bus in the Pavlohrad district. Preliminary information indicates that 12 people were killed and seven others injured,” said Oleksandr Hanhza, head of the regional military administration, in a post on Telegram.
AFP said it was unable to independently verify the circumstances of the attack.
In a separate overnight incident in the same region, a Russian drone attack killed a man and a woman in the city of Dnipro, Hanhza said earlier.
The attacks came on the day a unilateral reduction in Russian strikes on Ukraine, announced by US President Donald Trump, was due to expire.
Trump said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to halt strikes on Kyiv and “various towns” during the cold weather. However, the exact terms of the arrangement remain unclear, and the Kremlin did not confirm any link between a pause in attacks and weather conditions.
Earlier on Sunday, a Russian drone also struck a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, injuring at least seven people, including two women who were undergoing medical examinations, according to the regional governor.
