Russian strike on buses kills 33, say officials, as deadly attacks on Ukraine surge

Russian strike on buses kills 33, say officials, as deadly attacks on Ukraine surge

Volodymyr Zelensky posted on Telegram to express his condolences to the families and loved ones affected, and said Ukraine's partners needed to provide "concrete action".

Thirty-three people were killed in a Russian glide bomb attack on two civilian buses in the frontline city of Kramatorsk, rescue officials said.

Another 18 people were wounded, according to Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin, who accused Russia of hitting a bus carrying passengers in order to kill as many civilians as possible.

Kramatorsk and nearby Slovyansk are part of a so-called fortress belt that Russia is seeking to capture as part of Vladimir Putin's claim to the whole Ukrainian industrial region of Donbas.

Thursday's attack comes amid a sharp rise in Russian strikes across the country and a steep increase in civilian casualties.

Russia is now carrying out constant air raids on Ukraine, with sirens sounding throughout the day in the capital Kyiv. The UN says Ukraine had seen more civilians killed by August this year than in all of 2025.

In a single attack that destroyed a five-storey apartment block in Pryluky, east of Kyiv, early on Wednesday, 22 people were killed, including five children. Three of the children were just one year old.

Moscow has not yet commented on the latest attack, but rescue officials said it sparked a fire on two buses, both of which were carrying passengers.

Filashkin urged anyone still in the Donetsk region to move to safer parts of Ukraine.

He said public transport had been ordered to stop because of the sharp worsening of security in the two neighbouring cities. Civilian safety was the priority, and "we have no right to risk the lives of passengers and drivers", he said.

Moscow has frequently used the "liberation" and "protection" of the mainly Russian-speaking Donbas as a justification for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The region consists of two areas - Luhansk and Donetsk - and with most of Luhansk under Russian control, the Kremlin is also trying to seize the remaining 20% of Donetsk territory still held by Ukraine.

Zelensky offered condolences to the families and loved ones affected by the latest attack and said Ukraine's partners needed to provide "concrete action through new defence packages for the protection of Ukraine".

Before the Pryluky attack, the Ukrainian leader had warned this week of intelligence indicating plans for a major Russian assault, and families in Kyiv responded by going to metro stations for shelter.

For now, such warnings are among the best defences Ukrainians have.

Interceptor missiles are in short supply globally, leaving Ukraine with little ability to stop incoming Russian ballistic missiles.

In recent months, both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up long-range strikes against each other, with Russian attacks hitting Ukrainian data centres and logistics warehouses.

For much of the war, Kramatorsk served as a logistics and supply hub for the Ukrainian military, but it has now come under almost daily Russian attack as Russian forces move closer to the east of the city.

Glide bombs in particular have been used against Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. These bombs have winglets fitted so they glide toward their target instead of simply falling. In late August, as many as nine glide bombs were launched at Kramatorsk in a single day.

Kramatorsk City Council called the strike a "horrific crime committed by the Russian army against the civilian population".

"Once again, the Russians have struck a location where there are absolutely no military targets."