At least 33 people were killed, and 18 were injured when a Russian bomb exploded next to passenger buses in Kramatorsk, a city in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk Oblast near the frontline, according to Ukrainian officials.
Police identified the weapon as a glide bomb and said it hit when two city buses were operating at the time. So far, Russia hasn’t commented on the attack.
After the attack, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians, allegations that Russia has previously denied. But civilian casualties in Ukraine have been increasing as Moscow has intensified its bombardments in response to Ukraine’s massive drone attacks, which are also killing civilians.
Buses have also been hit by Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia and Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, according to Russian officials. The deadliest incidents included a June 3 strike that hit a bus in Russian-controlled Donetsk, killing eight civilians, and a July 20 attack that hit a bus in Russia’s Belgorod region, killing five civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Thursday attack brought the death toll from Russia’s attacks in Ukraine over two days to over 70, and lashed out at the US over Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling the war a “stalemate” and the Trump administration’s steps to open some economic ties with Moscow.
“So where’s the truth here, where’s the honesty? Where’s the stalemate? … That’s called unwillingness,” Zelensky said. “One cannot, on the one hand, negotiate with the Russians about future economic projects, whilst on the other hand say that we find ourselves in some sort of … diplomatic stalemate.”
