The people on board the bus were employees of a company, according to the Ukrainian governor Serhij Lysak's account of the attack. Pictures sent out by the Ukrainian rescue service show a seemingly civilian bus with smashed windows and numerous dead or injured people on a bloody bus floor.
"The number of victims is increasing all the time," wrote Governor Lysak on social media on Wednesday morning, and by the afternoon they had counted nearly 50 injured.
Eight of the nine fatalities were women and one was a man, according to information from the local police.
Zelenskyj: War crime
This is a particularly brutal attack and a "fully intentional war crime", according to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
"In Ukraine, we insist on an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire", he writes on social media, where he also says he is ready to enter into a ceasefire that includes "at least civilian targets".
Marhanets is a small town on the Dnepr River in southern Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region. On the other side of the river lies the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is one of the largest in Europe. Shelling has been pouring over the river throughout the war, with recurring alarms that it risks causing a catastrophe at the plant.
Over a hundred drones
On Tuesday evening, night and morning, Russia sent more than 100 drones against Ukrainian cities and towns, according to Ukrainian reports. The air force says it has shot down most of them, but far from all.
Three people were injured in a hit in Poltava in the northeast. In Odessa in the south, two were injured in another. Explosions were also reported in Kharkiv in the northeast and Kherson in the south.
In Kherson, it is reported that numerous Russian projectiles have struck a vital power plant and destroyed it. Residents are urged to use as little electricity as possible until further notice.
