Russian bomb strike on Kramatorsk buses kills 33, officials say

A Russian glide bomb struck two buses carrying passengers in the Ukrainian frontline city of Kramatorsk on Thursday, killing 33 people and wounding 18, rescue officials said. Authorities suspended public transport in Kramatorsk and neighboring Slovyansk as attacks across Ukraine drove up civilian casualties.

The bomb hit a city street at 10 a.m. local time, Ukraine’s National Police said, according to NBC News. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the site as “an ordinary public transport stop.” Images posted by local prosecutors showed the burning metal shell of a bus, debris and victims on the road.

NBC News reported an earlier death toll of at least 30, citing local officials. Rescue officials subsequently put the toll at 33, according to the BBC. The reported number of wounded was 18.

Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians. “For them (the Russians), a bus with passengers is an attractive target precisely because one strike can kill as many people as possible,” he wrote on Telegram, according to Al Jazeera. Moscow had not immediately commented on the strike. Russia denies targeting civilians, Al Jazeera reported.

Filashkin urged people still in the Donetsk region to move to safer parts of Ukraine. He ordered public transport to stop in Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, citing a sharp deterioration in security. “We have no right to risk the lives of passengers and drivers,” he said.

Kramatorsk City Council called the strike “yet another horrific crime committed by the Russian army against the civilian population.” It added: “Once again, the Russians have struck a location where there are absolutely no military targets.”

Kramatorsk and Slovyansk are part of a line of Ukrainian-held cities in the Donetsk region known as the “fortress belt.” Kramatorsk has served as a Ukrainian military logistics and supply hub for much of the war, according to the BBC and Al Jazeera. Russian forces have moved closer to the city, and the BBC reported that it now faces almost daily attacks.

The bus strike followed a Russian missile attack early Wednesday on an apartment building in Pryluky, east of Kyiv, that killed 22 people, including five children. Zelenskyy said a cruise missile directly hit the building, according to Al Jazeera. The BBC reported that three of the children killed were one year old.

Russian attacks on Kyiv on Thursday killed three people and injured 14, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, according to the BBC. The broadcaster also reported that strikes on energy infrastructure were causing power outages and disrupting water supplies in the capital.

The BBC cited United Nations figures showing that Ukraine had recorded more civilian deaths by August this year than in all of 2025. Zelenskyy called on Ukraine’s partners for “concrete action through new defence packages for the protection of Ukraine.”