The Kramatorsk bus strike
Russian strikes in eastern Ukraine killed 30 people and wounded at least 18 on Thursday, according to the Associated Press, while Reuters and ANSA reported 33 dead earlier in the day. The AP report is the most recent of the three, and the toll was still being updated. The attack hit a street in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, where police said two city buses were operating at the time of the strike. Police images showed bodies on a debris-strewn street and the charred remains of what appeared to be a bus. Reuters reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strike point as a bus stop.
Vadym Filashkin, head of the regional military administration, ordered public transport halted in Kramatorsk and the neighboring city of Sloviansk. He accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians.
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.
Reuters reported that Russian forces have stepped up drone and guided-bomb strikes on Kramatorsk and other cities in Ukraine's fortress belt, according to local officials. Moscow gave no immediate comment on the attack. Russia denies targeting civilians.
- Missile strike hits a residential building in Pryluky
- Attack on a residential building in Kyiv's Desnianskyi district leaves two dead
- Russian bomb strikes a street in Kramatorsk where two city buses were operating
- Drone strikes on Kyiv kill three and wound 14, according to Klitschko
Pryluky and Kyiv
A Russian missile struck a residential building in Pryluky, in northern Ukraine, on Wednesday. The death toll there rose to 22, including five children, and at least 54 people were injured, according to AP and Ukraine's State Emergency Service. Rescuers searched the rubble for residents not yet accounted for, and several survivors were forced to sleep in heavily damaged apartments.
In Kyiv, Ukraine's energy company DTEK said the grid operator Ukrenergo ordered emergency power outages, separate from the regular rolling outages scheduled across the country. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said morning drone strikes on the capital killed three people and wounded 14. Two people died in a Russian attack on a residential building in Kyiv's Desnianskyi district on Wednesday evening, according to the emergency service.
Kyiv police said bomb disposal specialists defused two more unexploded ballistic missile warheads, each weighing about half a ton, after they landed near residential buildings. A public awareness campaign restarted this month urges families to prepare emergency kits, store drinking water and keep off-grid power sources ready.
Warnings and international reaction
Zelenskyy warned that Russia will likely escalate daily missile and drone attacks as winter approaches, and he appealed for more defense support from NATO countries. He wrote in an online post:
It is important that support in words takes concrete form in new packages for Ukraine's defense.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed dismay at the attack on the two buses, which he called a terrible attack. He said that since Monday at least 85 civilians have been killed and 346 wounded in Russian bombardments, according to the data released. Turk said many regions of Ukraine were left without power after a series of long-range attacks on electrical facilities and power plants. He said deliberate attacks on civilians may constitute war crimes and that alleged violations must be investigated.