Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Saturday for stronger sanctions on Moscow after a Russian drone killed nine bus passengers in northeastern Ukraine just hours after the two countries held their first peace talks in three years of war.

A Russian drone attack on a bus in northeastern Ukraine killed at least nine people and injured seven others, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, just hours after the two countries met for the first direct peace talk in three years.

The two sides sat opposite each other at a U-shaped table in the Turkey's Dolmabahce Palace but remained far apart in their conditions for ending the war. Nevertheless, a Russian spokesperson later floated the possibility of Putin and Zelenskyy meeting if negotiations reach "certain agreements.