Russian strike on Ukraine buses kills at least 30

A Russian bomb hit two minibuses in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, killing at least 30 people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday. Some of the dead were not immediately identified due to the severity of their injuries, he said. The strike additionally injured 18 other people and damaged residential buildings and cars, he said.

Zelenskyy promised a forceful military response. Russia was trying to destroy all life in the Donbas region, he said. The disputed area on the east side of Ukraine has seen heavy action since Russia’s invasion in 2022, and has largely been occupied by Russia. But the New York Times and other media outlets recently reported that Ukraine took more ground in the region. The bus bombing came after Wednesday missile strikes on the city of Pryluky, in north-central Ukraine, killed 22 and damaged over a hundred residential buildings, he said.

Donetsk regional official Vadym Filashkin said those killed in the bus strike were civilians. He ordered Kramatorsk and a neighboring city to stop running public transport due to the risk of further attacks, he said.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea.