Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Wednesday for an “immediate, full, and unconditional cease-fire,” while Russia’s Vladimir Putin reportedly proposed freezing front lines.
Zelenskyy’s statement came 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 Gov. 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 cease-fire,” he said on social media, adding that “stopping the killings is the No. 1 task.”
Lysak said nine people had been killed and 49 wounded in the attack on the southern town of Marganets.
Zelenskyy also repeated his call for a partial halt on some missile and drone attacks.
“We are also ready for an immediate cease-fire at least for civilian targets,” he said.
Freezing front line
Earlier Tuesday, reports emerged that Putin has offered to halt Russia’s invasion on the current front line.
According to Financial Times, which quoted “people familiar with the matter,” Putin made the proposal during a meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg earlier this month.
The article comes as Western and Ukrainian diplomats were expected to gather in London to discuss a potential settlement in the more than three-year conflict, with media speculation about what is on the table in the talks.
The Russian leader indicated he would be willing to withdraw Moscow’s claims to parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – four regions it partially occupies – the FT reported.
In return, the United States might accede to Russia’s other major demands, the financial daily added, including recognising its sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula that it annexed in 2014 and barring Ukraine from joining NATO.
The Kremlin, however, appeared to deny the claims.
“A lot of fakes are being published at the moment, including by respected publications, so you should only listen to primary sources,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti.
Kyiv and its European allies have demanded a complete restoration of Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders, a position that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has described as “unrealistic.”
Other strikes
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.
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