At least 30 people were killed and 18 wounded when a Russian aerial bomb struck two buses in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said, prompting officials to suspend public transportation there and in neighboring Sloviansk.
The attack hit a city street at about 10 a.m. local time, Ukraine's National Police said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the target as "an ordinary public transport stop" and said doctors were working to save the wounded.
The bombing followed a missile strike that killed 22 people in northern Ukraine a day earlier, adding to a mounting civilian toll as Russian attacks intensify and Ukraine's supplies of air-defense ammunition dwindle. Increasing daytime strikes have compounded the danger from overnight bombardments.
Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, accused Russia of intentionally attacking civilians. He shared photographs showing a burned bus and victims lying in the street and announced the transport shutdown because of "the sharp deterioration of the security situation."
"In such circumstances, we have no right to risk the lives of passengers and drivers. The safety of residents of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk is above all," Filashkin said.
Doctors are now fighting to save the lives of people injured in the Russian strike on Kramatorsk. As of now, 30 people have been confirmed killed, and sadly, that number may rise. The Russian bomb effectively hit two city minibuses. Some of those killed have still not been identified because of the severity of their injuries. My condolences to all their families and loved ones. Another 18 people were injured in the strike. Residential buildings and cars were also damaged. This strike will not go unanswered. Russia is trying to destroy all life in Donbas, and a response from the world is a must. A forceful response – exactly as the Russians deserve for all the deaths they have brought. May all those killed rest in peace. — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 8, 2026
Zelenskyy said the condition of some victims had complicated identification. "Some of those killed have still not been identified because of the severity of their injuries," he wrote in a subsequent post.
Kramatorsk lies near the active front in the industrial Donbas region, a central objective of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war. Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians in Ukraine.
In Pryluky, the northern town struck Wednesday, rescuers continued searching a damaged residential building after the death toll reached 22, including five children. At least 54 people were injured, and search teams used dogs to look for residents still unaccounted for.
Some survivors spent the night in badly damaged apartments because they had nowhere else to stay. Crews removed heavy debris from the building as the search continued.
Zelenskyy warned that daily missile and drone attacks were likely to escalate before winter and urged NATO countries to turn pledges into deliveries. He specifically requested defenses against ballistic missiles, ammunition for combat aircraft and investment in interceptors.
"It is important that support in words takes concrete form in new packages for Ukraine's defense," he wrote.
The attacks have also increased pressure on Ukraine's electricity system. Energy company DTEK said grid operator Ukrenergo ordered emergency outages in Kyiv, separate from the scheduled rolling shutdowns already affecting the country.
Russian drones struck Kyiv's Obolonskyi and Desnianskyi districts late Wednesday, killing four people and wounding 12, including four children, police said. Bomb-disposal teams also defused two unexploded ballistic-missile warheads, each weighing about half a ton, near residential buildings.
Ukraine has continued its own long-range attacks inside Russia. Technology company Yandex said a Ukrainian drone strike damaged a data center in the Ryazan region, taking it offline and potentially disrupting services.
Ukraine's General Staff separately said its forces struck a major oil-refining and petrochemical complex in Salavat, roughly 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow. That claim could not be independently verified.
