A Russian drone strike hit a passenger minibus near Nikopol in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring seven, Ukrainian officials said.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the attack.
What officials said about the bus attack
Dnipropetrovsk Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said the attack struck an area around Nikopol, a city on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russian forces have occupied the plant since the first days of the war. Read the context: Reported data breach targets files related to Kudankulam nuclear power plant in India.
Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk region council, said the minibus was carrying people going about their daily business. Photos posted by Ukrainian officials showed the windows of a white minibus blown out and blood running down its side.
Key figures
- At least five people killed in the Nikopol-area strike
- Seven people injured in the attack
- 1,396 civilians killed and 7,978 injured in Ukraine during the first six months of 2026, according to the UN monitoring mission
- 250 civilians killed and 1,596 injured in attacks inside Russia during the same period, according to the UN mission
Civilian casualties rise as strikes escalate
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said civilian casualties in Ukraine rose by 37 percent in the first six months of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier. The mission said casualties in Russia rose by 121 percent, citing credible Russian open-source reporting.
Both Ukraine and Russia deny deliberately targeting civilians. The war began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Other attacks reported on Wednesday
In Kyiv, a witness reported hearing an explosion on Wednesday morning, while city authorities said a Russian strike caused a fire at a warehouse. Poltava regional Governor Vitalii Diakivnych said Russian forces had attacked energy infrastructure in the central region overnight and that a drone had hit an unnamed industrial facility.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had struck a cargo vessel in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Chornomorsk in the Odesa region.
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