Russian Drone Hits Passenger Bus in Dnipropetrovsk, Killing Five

A Russian drone struck a passenger minibus in southern Ukraine early Wednesday, killing five people and wounding at least seven, according to Ukrainian officials.

The attack took place in the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, close to the southern front line. Oleksandr Hanzha, who heads the regional military administration, said all five victims died at the scene, while the seven injured were being treated by medical teams.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, writing on X, said the vehicle was a minibus and that the strike had "no military rationale." He linked the incident to Russia's continued targeting of logistics and critical infrastructure, which he said has gone on "unabated."

Wednesday's strikes extended beyond the bus. Zelenskyy said a passenger train was hit in the Mykolaiv region, damaging a railway station and a diesel locomotive, though nearly 170 passengers were evacuated before the impact. An electric locomotive was also struck in the northwestern city of Kovel, he added.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that more than 500 locomotives have been damaged or destroyed since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, with over half of those attacks occurring this year. He described the strikes as "systematic" and aimed at disrupting logistics nationwide, and appealed to partners to help source locomotives compatible with Ukraine's 1,520-millimeter rail gauge and to assist with financing.

In a separate post on Wednesday, Sybiha said Russian forces were hitting passenger trains, locomotives, stations and routes "knowing exactly how essential they are for civilians, evacuations, and Ukraine's economy," adding: "This is not collateral damage. It is a systematic hunt for people and an attempt to paralyse civilian life."

Elsewhere, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said 17 sites in the Kyiv region were damaged between Tuesday and Wednesday morning, including eight private homes, five vehicles, a municipal building, a hangar and a production facility. Zelenskyy said the Kherson, Donetsk and Poltava regions had also come under attack.

The strikes came as Zelenskyy pushed back on U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to a mutual halt on attacks against each other's energy infrastructure. In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to enter such an arrangement if Russia stops striking Ukrainian energy facilities. Trump had said in a social media post on Monday that a truce had been reached, without offering details. Previous attempts at even a partial ceasefire have repeatedly collapsed within hours, with both sides blaming the other for violations.

Zelenskyy said the possibility of an energy truce was raised during a recent meeting in Kyiv with Trump's representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, telling them: "If the Russians are ready for an energy truce, that means there will be no attacks on energy facilities at all."

Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 71 Ukrainian drones overnight. In Russia's Belgorod region, one person was killed and four others injured by Ukrainian strikes over the previous 24 hours, according to acting governor Alexander Shuvayev.