KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Wednesday for an “immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire”, hours after a Russian drone strike on a bus killed nine and as his top aide met Kyiv’s allies in London.
Images published by Dnipropetrovsk Governor Sergiy Lysak showed a bus with a hole punctured through its ceiling and what appeared to be blood and shattered glass scattered across its floors.
Zelenskyy called it an “egregiously brutal attack and an absolutely deliberate war crime”.
“In Ukraine, we insist on an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire,” he said on social media, adding that “stopping the killings is the number one task”.
Lysak said nine people had been killed and 49 wounded in the attack on the southern town of Marganets.
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Zelenskyy also repeated his call for a partial halt on some missile and drone attacks.
“We are also ready for an immediate ceasefire at least for civilian targets,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a surprise Easter truce over the weekend.
It saw fighting dip and air attacks practically halt for 30 hours.
But Ukraine and its allies dismissed it as a PR exercise from the Kremlin leader, saying Putin had no interest in real peace talks.
Russia launched more than 100 drones at Ukraine between Tuesday evening and early Wednesday, the Ukrainian air force said.
Ukrainian authorities also reported fires in several regions overnight after Russian attacks.
Strikes were reported in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa.
In Russia, one person was reported wounded by Ukrainian shelling in the Belgorod region, the local governor said.
Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, defence and foreign ministers were in London Wednesday for talks with Kyiv’s allies – downgraded at the last minute after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cancelled plans to attend.
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