Drone kills 2 in attack on minibus in southern Ukraine

Two people were killed when a Russian drone struck a minibus in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Saturday, according to local officials, highlighting the continued targeting of civilian areas that has characterized Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Seven others were wounded in the attack, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin reported. In a separate incident hours later, Russia attacked another minibus in Kherson, injuring the driver.

The deadly strike in Kherson is part of a broader pattern of attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure that has intensified in recent weeks. On the Black Sea coast, Russian forces damaged port infrastructure in Odesa, though no casualties were reported in that incident.

Along Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted “rather unusual” activity on Friday. While not providing specific details, Zelenskyy stated that Ukrainian authorities were monitoring the situation closely.

“We are closely documenting and keeping the situation under control. If necessary, we will react,” Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram.

The heightened activity along the Belarus border raises concerns given that Belarus, a staunch Kremlin ally, has previously allowed Russian troops to use its territory as a staging ground for the invasion. Belarus also hosts some of Moscow’s tactical nuclear weapons, making any unusual military movements in the area potentially significant.

On the battlefield, Russia claimed Saturday to have captured the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, though Ukrainian officials have not confirmed this development. Independent verification of these claims remains difficult due to the fluidity of the front line, which stretches approximately 1,250 kilometers (750 miles).

Ukrainian civilians have endured unrelenting air assaults since Russia launched its full-scale invasion more than four years ago. Despite U.S.-brokered negotiation attempts over the past year, Moscow has rejected Kyiv’s ceasefire proposals. The situation has been further complicated as international attention has partially shifted to the escalating conflict involving Iran, potentially reducing global focus on Ukraine’s continued struggle.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have intensified their own long-distance strikes against Russian oil infrastructure. In the Krasnodar region, local officials reported that a fire at an oil terminal in the Black Sea city of Tuapse was extinguished on Saturday. The fire had broken out following a Ukrainian strike on Friday.

This marks the fourth time in just over two weeks that Ukrainian drones have targeted the Tuapse oil refinery and export terminal, causing fires that have prompted local evacuations and produced massive plumes of smoke visible for miles.

Ukraine has strategically escalated these attacks on Russian oil facilities in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s oil exports, which provide critical funding for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine. However, the economic impact of these strikes remains uncertain, as rising oil prices resulting from the Iran conflict and a related easing of U.S. sanctions have helped replenish the Kremlin’s financial resources.

As the conflict continues into its fifth year, Ukrainian civilians in frontline areas like Kherson face daily threats from Russian attacks, while the international community struggles to find diplomatic solutions to end the violence. The persistent targeting of civilian infrastructure, including public transportation vehicles, underscores the humanitarian toll of a war that shows little sign of resolution in the near term.