At least 12 people were killed and several others wounded when Russian drones struck the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, hitting a bus transporting mineworkers, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the next round of Ukraine-Russia peace talks will be held later this week.
Emergency services said the strike sparked a fire that was later extinguished. The attack targeted a vehicle owned by DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, which accused Russia of carrying out what it described as a large-scale assault on energy infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
DTEK said the bus was transporting miners from a shift when it was hit near the Ternivska mine east of Dnipro. Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal condemned the strike, calling it a deliberate and cynical attack on civilian energy workers.
The assault came days after U.S. President Donald Trump said Moscow had agreed to temporarily halt attacks on Kyiv and other major cities amid freezing winter conditions that have worsened humanitarian conditions across Ukraine.
Hours earlier, Ukrainian emergency officials reported that Russian drones also struck a maternity hospital in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, injuring six people and igniting a fire in the gynecology reception area. The blaze was later brought under control, regional officials said.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said planned trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States, initially expected to take place Sunday, were postponed to Wednesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi.
“We have just received a report from our negotiating team. The dates for the next meetings have been set for Feb. 4 and 5,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram statement, adding that Ukraine was prepared for substantive discussions aimed at ending the war.
There was no immediate response from U.S. or Russian officials. On Saturday, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said he held what he described as a constructive meeting with U.S. representatives in Florida as part of ongoing diplomatic efforts.
Details of the Abu Dhabi talks remain limited, though they are part of a yearlong push by the Trump administration to broker a settlement to nearly four years of full-scale war. While both Moscow and Kyiv have signaled openness to negotiations, sharp divisions remain, particularly over territory in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region occupied by Russian forces.
Overnight, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 90 attack drones, with several striking multiple locations. Local officials reported additional casualties from drone strikes in Dnipro and shelling in the southern city of Kherson. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces targeted transport infrastructure used by Ukrainian troops and claimed its air defenses shot down Ukrainian drones over western Russia, without reporting damage or casualties.
AP
