Russian strike on civilian buses in Kramatorsk leaves 33 dead and 18 injured

A Russian airstrike targeting two civilian buses in Kramatorsk, a city near the front line, killed at least 33 people and injured 18, Ukrainian authorities said.

Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk region, said a bus carrying passengers had been hit and accused Russia of seeking to cause as many civilian casualties as possible.

Footage released by the local prosecutor’s office showed the buses engulfed in flames, debris scattered across the road and the devastating aftermath of the attack.

Following the deterioration of the security situation in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, authorities have suspended public transport. Filashkin urged residents who remain in the Donetsk region to leave for safer parts of Ukraine.

“The safety of civilians is paramount, and we have no right to put the lives of passengers and drivers at risk,” he said.

Kramatorsk and neighboring Sloviansk lie in a fortified area of eastern Ukraine that is one of Russia’s targets in its bid to take full control of Donbas. Thursday’s attack came as Russian strikes intensified across the country and civilian casualties rose.

The United Nations reports that by August of this year, more civilians had been killed in Ukraine than during all of 2025. A day earlier, another attack brought down a five-story apartment building in Pryluky, east of Kyiv, killing 22 people, including five children. Three of the children were just one year old.

Moscow has not commented on the latest attack. Ukrainian authorities said the strike set fire to the two buses carrying passengers.

Ongoing Russian airstrikes have also been reported in the capital. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Thursday’s bombardment killed three people and injured 14 others, two of them critically. The attacks forced students to stop classes and shelter in bunkers; businesses also closed, and public transport was suspended in some areas.

Strikes on infrastructure, particularly Ukraine’s energy system, have caused power outages and water supply problems in parts of Kyiv. The capital’s water utility warned that water pressure was falling in the western part of the city as a result of power outages.

President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences to the victims’ families and urged international partners to take “concrete action” and provide new defense packages for Ukraine. Before the attack in Pryluky, he had warned that intelligence indicated Russia was preparing a new major offensive. In Kyiv, many families have taken shelter in metro stations.

For much of the war, Kramatorsk has served as a logistics base and supply hub for the Ukrainian army. Today, the city faces attacks almost every day as Russian forces have moved closer to its east.

Among the weapons used most often are guided aerial bombs, fitted with small wings that allow them to glide through the air toward their targets. In late August, as many as nine such bombs were dropped on Kramatorsk in a single day. The city council described the latest attack as a “horrific crime against the civilian population” and said there were no military targets in the area that was hit.