At least 12 mine workers have been killed and seven others injured after a Russian drone struck their shuttle bus in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region on Sunday.
The victims had just completed their shift at a facility operated by DTEK, the country's largest private energy company, and were being transported home when the attack occurred in the Pavlograd district.
Police confirmed the bus was travelling roughly 40 miles from the frontline when it was hit.
Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the regional military administration, announced the casualties on Telegram.
He said: "The enemy drone hit near a company shuttle bus in the Pavlograd district.
"Preliminarily, 12 people were killed and seven more were wounded."
Photographs released by Ukraine's state emergency service depicted the aftermath of the strike.
The vehicle can be seen with its side windows blown out and the windscreen left dangling from the front of the bus.
The attack targeted workers from one of DTEK's mining operations
|UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE
The attack targeted workers from one of DTEK's mining operations.
The company confirmed those killed had been returning from their workplace.
Pavlograd, where the deadly incident took place, sits in the central-eastern part of the country, positioned a considerable distance behind active combat zones.
Images from the scene revealed the extent of the destruction inflicted on the civilian transport, which had been carrying energy sector employees through what should have been a relatively safe area away from direct hostilities.
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Further drone attacks struck elsewhere in Ukraine on the same day, compounding the civilian toll
|UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE
Further drone attacks struck elsewhere in Ukraine on the same day, compounding the civilian toll.
In the central city of Dnipro, an overnight assault claimed the lives of a man and a woman, according to an earlier statement from Ganzha.
A separate strike targeted a maternity hospital in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, leaving at least seven people wounded.
Among those injured in the hospital attack were two women who had been undergoing medical examinations at the time the drone hit the facility.
The series of assaults across multiple regions demonstrated the continued threat posed to civilian infrastructure and non-combatants
|UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE
The series of assaults across multiple regions demonstrated the continued threat posed to civilian infrastructure and non-combatants.
Healthcare facilities and workers travelling far from active fighting both fell victim to the aerial bombardment.
These attacks coincided with the scheduled end of a unilateral reduction in Russian strikes that US President Donald Trump had announced.
Mr Trump stated on Thursday that Vladimir Putin had agreed to halt attacks on Kyiv and "various towns" during cold weather.
However, the precise terms remained unclear and the Kremlin did not connect any alleged truce to weather conditions.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday that a second round of negotiations involving Russian, Ukrainian and American officials would commence on Wednesday.
The talks have been scheduled for February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi.
The initial discussions held last week produced no breakthrough, with territorial control remaining the central obstacle.
Russia currently occupies approximately a fifth of Ukrainian territory and is demanding complete control of the eastern Donetsk region.