U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the Vatican could be a venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks, taking up the Holy See’s longstanding offer after Pope Leo XIV vowed to personally make “every effort” to help end the war.

A Russian drone has struck a passenger bus in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, killing nine people and injuring four others

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.

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.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years Friday, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations, but officials and observers expected them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than three-year war.