Drone Attack in Dnipropetrovsk Claims Lives
KYIV, Ukraine — A drone strike in Dnipropetrovsk targeted a bus carrying miners, resulting in the deaths of 15 people, as reported by Ukraine’s emergency services on Sunday. This incident occurred just hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy revealed that peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
In addition to the fatalities, seven individuals sustained injuries, and a fire ignited at the scene, although fire crews managed to contain it.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, indicated that it owned the buses involved in the attack and characterized the strike as a “large-scale terrorist act” against its operations in the region. They noted that the bus was transporting miners returning from work.
The drone strikes came shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Russia had agreed to temporarily suspend attacks on cities, including the Ukrainian capital, due to harsh winter conditions affecting the population.
Earlier, emergency services reported that another Russian drone had injured six individuals at a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhya on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, negotiators from Russia, Ukraine, and the United States were meant to convene in Abu Dhabi to discuss peace efforts, but Zelenskiy announced that the meeting would instead occur next week.
He mentioned that the dates for the tripartite meeting in Abu Dhabi are now set for February 4th and 5th. “Ukraine is ready for meaningful discussions, and we seek an outcome that leads us towards a dignified resolution of the conflict,” he shared via Telegram.
No immediate comments were made by U.S. or Russian officials regarding the shift in the meeting.
On Saturday, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev mentioned having productive discussions with the U.S. peace team in Florida. However, not many details were released about the upcoming Abu Dhabi meeting, which is part of ongoing efforts to reach a peace accord after nearly four years of conflict.
Ukrainian and Russian officials are broadly in favor of compromise, yet fundamental disagreements persist regarding the terms of any potential agreement.
A crucial point of contention remains whether Russia should keep or withdraw from the territories it occupies in Ukraine, particularly the Donbass region.
Earlier on the same day, a Russian drone assault also struck a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhya, resulting in injuries to three women with an increased count reported later. A fire broke out in the hospital but was eventually extinguished.
The Kremlin had confirmed on Friday that it would delay attacks on Kyiv until Sunday, but offered little information, complicating efforts to verify whether any conciliatory actions had genuinely taken place.
Recent attacks from Russia have targeted energy facilities, and earlier this week, strikes in Kyiv resulted in fatalities and injuries. Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched a significant number of attack drones overnight, causing additional casualties in Dnipropetrovsk.
In Kherson, artillery fire hit the city center, injuring a woman severely. The Russian Ministry of Defense detailed their operations, emphasizing attacks on transportation infrastructure utilized by Ukraine’s military.
Further, Russia’s air defense claimed to have intercepted 21 Ukrainian drones over southwestern and western regions of Russia, but did not provide any specifics on casualties or damage.
