Regional military leaders said seven others were also injured in the attack on Saturday morning in Bilopillia as a minibus travelled to Sumy, the regional capital close to Russia's border.

The strike occurred just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in more than three years. Little was achieved but a prisoner swap was agreed. Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky said the attack on the bus was "a deliberate killing of civilians". Russia has not commented but state media reported that forces had hit a "military staging area" in the Sumy province.

 Zelensky said Russian forces "could not help but understand what kind of vehicle they were hitting". He said a family - a mother, father and their daughter - were among those killed in the attack. Citing preliminary information, Sumy's regional head Oleh Hryhorov said the bus was hit by a Russian Lancet drone at 06:17 local time on Saturday (03:17 GMT). He described the attack as "inhumane". Friday's talks in Istanbul, Turkey, did not lead to any breakthrough as Ukraine and Russia remain far apart on how to end the war.

However, it was agreed that each side would return 1,000 prisoners of war to the other in the coming days. Zelensky said of the talks that "as on any day of this war, there was an opportunity to cease fire. Ukraine has been offering this for a long time". (BBC)