Russian Strike on Kramatorsk Buses Kills 30 as Ukraine Faces New Wave of Attacks

KYIV, Ukraine — At least 30 people were killed and 18 others wounded on Thursday after a Russian guided bomb struck a street where two passenger buses were travelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

The attack happened at about 10 a.m. local time in the Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian authorities. The bomb struck the area as the buses were carrying passengers and also damaged a nearby residential building.

Ukraine's State Emergency Service later reported that the death toll from the attack had risen to 33. However, officials clarified that three of those deaths occurred separately in Bilenke, a settlement within the wider Kramatorsk urban community, following shelling.

The 30 deaths directly linked to the bus strike make it one of the deadliest single attacks on civilians in Ukraine in recent months. Eighteen people were also reported injured.

Images released by Ukrainian authorities showed a badly burned bus and debris scattered across the street, with emergency workers searching the area and treating the wounded.

The Donetsk regional prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary investigation into the attack as a suspected war crime. Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilian transport. Those allegations have not been independently established.

Russian authorities had not immediately commented on the Kramatorsk strike. Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Kramatorsk is one of the main Ukrainian-held cities in Donetsk and forms part of the heavily defended area known as Ukraine's eastern “fortress belt”. The city has increasingly come under Russian drone and guided-bomb attacks.

Following the latest attack, authorities suspended public transport in Kramatorsk and neighbouring Sloviansk, citing concerns over the safety of passengers and drivers.

The strike came a day after another major Russian attack across Ukraine that killed dozens of people, including 22 in the northern city of Pryluky, according to Ukrainian officials. Separate Russian drone attacks on Kyiv on Thursday also killed civilians and wounded others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to international partners for additional air-defence systems as Russian missile, drone and guided-bomb attacks intensify ahead of winter.

The latest attacks have added to the civilian toll of the war and increased pressure on Ukraine's air-defence network, while emergency crews continue to respond to strikes across the country.

Source BBC NEWS