Russian drone attacks killed and wounded civilians in south-eastern Ukraine on Sunday, with regional authorities reporting a strike on a bus carrying mine workers in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and damage to a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia.
Officials in the region said a drone exploded close to a service bus used by an enterprise in the Pavlohrad district. The regional governor, Oleksandr Hanzha, initially reported 12 dead and seven injured. Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, later said the victims were its employees travelling to or from a shift near the Ternivska mine, and other Ukrainian outlets reported a higher death toll as information was updated.
Ukraine’s emergency services and the regional administration also reported an attack on a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia, where a fire was reported in part of the gynaecology department and women were treated for injuries. The head of the regional administration, Ivan Fedorov, said the number of injured rose during the day, with some reports placing it at six.
In Kyiv, the attacks were presented as further evidence that Moscow continues to strike civilian targets despite diplomatic efforts. Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, called for increased pressure on Russia after the strike on the maternity hospital.
Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, also condemned the attack on the maternity hospital and argued that sustained support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia remain necessary.
The strikes came as Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a new round of US-backed talks involving Ukraine and Russia was scheduled for 4–5 February in Abu Dhabi. Reuters reported that the Kremlin had agreed to a temporary suspension of attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure at the request of Donald Trump.
While the day’s most serious reported incident involved the miners’ bus, regional officials and international news agencies also described other drone strikes in the south-east, including in Dnipro.
Ukraine’s military said it continued to target Russian drone infrastructure closer to the front. The General Staff said Ukrainian forces struck a Russian UAV control point near Myrnohrad in the Donetsk region, alongside other targets it described as military positions and concentrations of personnel.
Fighting also continued around Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian units and Russian forces have been engaged for months. Ukrainian military reporting and local accounts describe frequent small-unit assaults and heavy reliance on drones on both sides. In recent weeks, Ukrainian and international reporting has repeatedly characterised the Pokrovsk sector as one of the most active stretches of the front.
Sunday’s incidents were reported amid continued pressure on Ukraine’s power system during winter, after earlier waves of strikes damaged generation and transmission assets.
