Ukraine strike on bus kills 9, Lugansk official says

Moscow-installed authorities in the Russian-controlled Lugansk region said a Ukrainian strike on a passenger bus in occupied eastern Ukraine killed nine people on Wednesday.

Leonid Pasechnik, the Moscow-installed leader in Lugansk, said eight people were killed at the scene and a 20-year-old woman later died of her injuries in intensive care.

Pasechnik said the bus was carrying 15 passengers and was travelling from Lysychansk to Stakhanov. He said the wounded included the 20-year-old woman's mother, an 18-year-old woman and three other people.

Pasechnik called the attack a “war crime”.

Russian forces fully control the Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine. The war in Ukraine crossed the four-and-a-half-year mark this month, with both sides escalating attacks and the United Nations warning of a rise in civilian deaths.

Both sides have hit each other with deadly attacks in frontline towns and far from the front this summer. US-brokered peace talks to end the fighting have stalled.