London talks on ending Ukraine war

Kyiv, Apr. 24: A planned meeting Wednesday between top U.S., British, French and Ukrainian diplomats to push for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was scrapped at the last minute amid little sign of progress in international efforts to end the more than three-year war.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the talks in London would involve only lower-ranking officials after the U.S. State Department said Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was unable to attend because of a scheduling issue.

Rubio's abrupt cancelation raised doubts about the direction of the negotiations. It came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensyy ruled out ceding territory to Russia as part of any potential peace agreement, calling it a nonstarter. 

The Ukrainian leader spoke Tuesday in response to reports the Trump administration was proposing a deal that would allow Russia to keep occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a potential peace agreement.

Even achieving a limited, 30-day ceasefire has been beyond the reach of negotiators, as both sides have continued to attack each other in a grinding war of attrition along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and launch long-range strikes.

A Russian drone struck a bus carrying workers in Marganets, in eastern Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday morning, killing seven women and two men, regional head Serhii Lysak wrote on his Telegram channel. More than 40 people were injured, he said.

Lysak published photos of a bus with its windows blown out and shards of glass mixed with blood spattered on the bus floor.

President Donald Trump has pushed for an end to the war and said last week that negotiations were "coming to a head." That comment came after Rubio suggested that the U.S. might soon back away from negotiations if they don't progress.

Rubio had indicated that Wednesday's meeting could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration remains engaged.(AP)