A Russian drone attack killed at least nine people on Saturday after hitting a shuttle bus carrying civilians in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, according to local residents and Ukrainian authorities.
The deadly strike came hours after Ukrainian and Russian officials sat down in Istanbul, face to face for the first time in more than three years.
At the brief meeting, the two sides agreed on a deal to swap 1,000 prisoners each. But the talks and the frenetic swirl of diplomatic activity leading up to them did nothing to bring the two sides closer to negotiating an end to the war and easing the daily carnage, with soldiers on both sides being killed and injured on the front every day, and the civilian toll steadily rising.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Saturday that the strike on the bus was a “deliberate attack on civilians.”
“The Russians could not have failed to understand what kind of vehicle they were targeting,” he said in a statement.
The Russian military did not have any immediate comment on the attack.
In his statement, Mr. Zelensky said he believed the only way the Kremlin would make peace was if President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia were forced to do so.
“We are expecting strong sanctions against Russia from the United States, from Europe, and from all our partners,” Mr. Zelensky said.
The European Union is set to push through a new raft of sanctions on Tuesday, but President Trump has not said if the United States would do the same.
On Friday night, Mr. Trump told Fox News that he believed he could personally broker an end to the fighting by sitting down with Mr. Putin.
“I think Putin is tired of this whole thing,” he said. “This is turkey time. This is now we are talking turkey.”
Military analysts and critics of the Trump administration’s policy, including Republicans, have said that pressuring Ukraine while taking no action against Russia was always doomed to failure.
“I do not believe there is any prospect for the end to the war this year,” Mick Ryan, a retired Australian general and fellow at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based research group, said in an interview. “Russia has maintained, and doubled down, on its maximalist goals, reinforcing them in negotiations in Turkey this week.”
The focus on territorial gains and demands, which is mainly what the White House has been focused on, misses the point, he said.
“Mr. Putin’s primary goal is snuffing out Ukraine’s democracy and culture, denying it agency in its own affairs,” Mr. Ryan said.
Serhii, 44, a volunteer in Sumy who on Saturday helped rescue people injured in the bus attack, said he felt betrayed by the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts. Asking that his family name not be used out of concern for their safety, he said, “Everything Trump is doing — or not doing — leads to more destruction, the collapse of peace.”
Viktor Vovk, 60, was driving the bus and had just pulled away from a checkpoint when the drone struck.
“I didn’t even realize what had happened at first,” he said when reached by phone as he recovered from his injuries. But then he turned his head and saw bodies torn apart and others trapped in the wreckage.
“God help you never have to see something like that,” he said.
The nine people who were killed included a family — a father, mother and daughter, Ukrainian authorities said. At least seven more people were injured.
The bus was struck by a Russian Lancet drone at 6:17 a.m. local time outside Bilopillia, a few miles from the Russian border, which had a prewar population of roughly 15,000 people.
The Russians are dropping aerial bombs that can weigh thousands of pounds on the town night and day, a local resident, Yevgen, said when reached by phone. He also asked that his family name not be used out of concern for their safety.
“The town is being completely destroyed,” he said. “You can’t drive by car there anymore — everything is tracked by drones, and they strike at anything that moves.”
The drone used in the bus attack is known as a Lancet, a precision weapon that Russia has used to devastating effect throughout the war, Ukrainian officials said. They said it was guided to its target by another surveillance drone, now standard practice.
Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said Saturday’s bloodshed was further evidence of a failed American policy.
He pointed out that Mr. Trump had demanded an immediate, unconditional cease-fire for 30 days, which Mr. Zelensky accepted even though Kyiv had long insisted that security guarantees precede any truce. He then called on Mr. Zelensky to take up Mr. Putin’s offer to restart direct negotiations in Istanbul, but then undercut those talks, saying that only he and Mr. Putin together could resolve the war.
“Such inconsistency, illogical steps and lack of strategy undermine U.S. credibility and encourage Putin to continue to insist on his maximalist demands,” Mr. Merezhko said. “Putin has outmaneuvered Trump.”
Nataliia Novosolova contributed reporting.
Marc Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa.
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