Bus with civilians destroyed near Bilopillia is evacuation bus

The bus destroyed by a Russian strike drone on Saturday morning near the city of Bilopillia, Sumy region, was on an evacuation flight, community head Yuriy Zarko said.

"People were on this bus going for evacuation. Outside the city, the bus was hit by Lancet, a reconnaissance drone guided it," Zarko said on the air of Suspilne.

He confirmed that nine people were killed and five injured as a result of the strike. "The latter received medical assistance on the spot and were sent to Sumy to the hospital. We are currently taking the bodies of the deceased. The identities of some of them have not yet been established. The vast majority are women of retirement age, two or three men also died," the head of the community said.

According to Zarko, it is likely that "the Bilopillia-Sumy routes will be moved." "This section of the road is now dangerous. We are waiting for a decision from the regional military administration regarding bus routes," he said.

The community's head said that mourning has been declared in Bilopillia from May 17 to 19.

"This day will go down in the history of our city as Black Saturday. Even the fascists did not do anything like this... There can be no forgiveness for the racists for their atrocities! Eternal memory to the murdered," he said on Facebook.

As reported at 06:17 on Saturday, the enemy struck, previously a Lancet UAV, at a bus transporting civilians on the Bilopillia-Sumy route. Initially, eight people were reported dead and five wounded, but one of the wounded could not be saved. Earlier, there was information that the bus was a regular bus, but later information appeared in local public media that it was performing an evacuation flight from the frontline Bilopilloa, which has been under fire for a long time.