Ukraine says 30 killed, 18 wounded in Russian attack on buses in Kramatorsk

Ukrainian authorities said a Russian attack hit passenger buses in Kramatorsk on Thursday, 8 October, killing 30 people and wounding at least 18. The Donetsk regional prosecutor's office confirmed the death toll on Telegram, and the regional governor's office reported the same figures, according to DW. DW reported that the bomb struck the buses as they traveled along a street and also hit a residential building. NPR reported that Russian strikes in eastern Ukraine included an attack on a public bus.

The prosecutor's office said it had opened a preliminary investigation into a suspected war crime, and images released by prosecutors showed a burned-out bus and bodies on the ground, according to DW. Governor Vadym Filashkin said Russian forces were deliberately targeting civilian transport. "For them, a bus with passengers is an attractive target precisely because one strike can kill as many people as possible," he said, according to DW.

Filashkin said public transport was halted in Kramatorsk and the neighboring city of Sloviansk because of the sharp deterioration in security. "In such circumstances, we have no right to risk the lives of passengers and drivers," he said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered condolences to the families of those killed and wrote on X: "This strike will not go unanswered." He added that "Russia is trying to destroy all life in Donbas, and a response from the world is a must," according to DW.

Zelenskyy said Russia will likely escalate daily missile and drone attacks as winter approaches, and asked NATO countries for additional defense support, according to NPR. "It is important that support in words takes concrete form in new packages for Ukraine's defense," he wrote. The Kramatorsk attack followed Russian strikes on 7 October that killed 30 people across Ukraine, including 22 in a residential building in Pryluky, according to DW. NPR reported the Pryluky death toll included five children and that at least 54 people were injured.

Ukraine's energy company DTEK said the national grid operator Ukrenergo ordered emergency power outages in Kyiv, separate from the regular rolling outages scheduled across the country. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said separate Russian strikes on the capital on 8 October killed three people and wounded 13, according to DW. Kyiv police said Russian drones struck the Obolonskyi and Desnianskyi districts late on 7 October, killing four people and injuring 12, including four children. Police also said bomb disposal specialists defused two more unexploded ballistic missile warheads, each weighing about half a ton, after they landed near residential buildings.

Russia's technology company Yandex said one of its data centers in the western Ryazan region was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, taking the site offline, according to NPR. The company said the damage could lead to online service disruption.