A Russian drone assault struck a bus transporting miners in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine on Sunday, resulting in the deaths of at least 12 individuals.

By later reports from Ukrainian emergency services, the fatality count increased to 15, marking it as one of the most lethal single assaults on energy sector workers since the war’s onset.

This attack occurred just hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that a fresh round of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia had been delayed.

A representative from DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company that employed the victims, informed Fox News Digital that drones had targeted the bus while it was approximately 40 miles away from the front line in Ukraine’s central-eastern region.

The DTEK spokesperson characterized the attack as a “terrorist act against civilian infrastructure.”

“This strike was a deliberate terrorist attack on civilians, representing another Russian crime against essential infrastructure,” the spokesperson stated.

Russian drone strike killed at least 12 Ukrainian coal miners and injured seven others when it hit a civilian bus in Dnipropetrovsk region. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk region)

The bus was transporting miners after the end of their shift when it was hit by a Russian drone, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine also confirmed.

At least seven workers were injured, and a fire sparked by the impact was later extinguished by emergency crews.

“The epicenter of one of the attacks was a company bus transporting miners from the enterprise after a shift in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” the company also said in a statement.

Zelenskyy condemned the strike late Sunday, calling it another deliberate attack on civilians.

Russian drone strike killed at least 12 Ukrainian coal miners and injured seven others when it hit a civilian bus in Dnipropetrovsk region. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk region)

Earlier in the day, he announced that the next round of trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. would now take place Feb. 4-5 in Abu Dhabi, after originally being expected for Sunday.

“Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Zelenskyy said on X, adding that the delay had been agreed to by all sides.

The delay followed a surprise meeting Saturday in Florida between Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s special envoy and head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

The talks in Abu Dhabi are now expected to include representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S., according to the Associated Press.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both met separately with President Donald Trump. Despite a peace deal agreement being close, territorial disputes remain, Zelenskyy said.   (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP; Christian Bruna/Getty)

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy warned Russia is stepping up its aerial campaign against civilian and logistical targets. 

“Over the past week, Russia has used more than 980 attack drones, nearly 1,100 guided aerial bombs, and two missiles against Ukraine,” he wrote on X on Sunday. “We are recording Russian attempts to destroy logistics and connectivity between cities and communities.”

In a statement, DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko also explained the bus attack marked the company’s “single largest loss [of] life of DTEK employees since Russia’s full-scale invasion.”

“We can already say with certainty that this was an unprovoked terrorist attack on a purely civilian target, for which there can be no justification,” Timchenko said.

The attack marked “one of the darkest days in our history,” he added. “DTEK teams are working with emergency services on the ground in Dnipropetrovsk region to ensure the injured, and families who have lost loved ones, get all the care and support they need. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” he added.