At least 30 people were killed Thursday and another 18 wounded when Russia dropped a bomb on two passenger buses in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, in what is shaping up to be one of the deadliest weeks in Ukraine in recent months.
The mass casualties came a day after 22 people, including five children, were killed and another 54 wounded when a Russian missile struck a residential building in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday.
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One of the two passenger buses in Kramatorsk, Ukraine struck by Russia
(Photo: Handout / UUkrainian State Emergency Service / AFP)
Thursday morning’s attack, in which a glide bomb struck the two buses in Kramatorsk, is already one of the deadliest single attacks Ukraine has suffered since the start of the war. Kramatorsk, located near the front line with Russia and briefly seized by pro-Russian separatists in 2014 before being retaken by Ukrainian forces, serves as a vital logistics hub for the Ukrainian military in the Donetsk region. For several weeks, Ukrainian forces have been conducting a counteroffensive in this sector and say they have already recaptured several square kilometers of territory.
Officials in Kramatorsk accused Russia of committing a “war crime.” Images from the scene showed the wreckage of the buses and charred bodies.
The capital, Kyiv, was also attacked again Thursday, with three people killed and 13 wounded in strikes there. Police in the city said bomb disposal experts also neutralized two unexploded ballistic missile warheads, each weighing about half a ton, after they landed near residential buildings.
Residential building in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky struck by a Russian missile on Tuesday, killing 22
(Photo: Genya Savilov / AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly warned in recent days that Russia is preparing an unusually large-scale attack on Ukraine. Moscow has not denied that, stressing that future strikes would be in retaliation for recent Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia, which have badly damaged Russian oil facilities and warehouses belonging to e-commerce companies and have also caused fatalities.
According to assessments in Kyiv, Russia is seeking to severely damage infrastructure ahead of winter in order to create electricity shortages in Ukraine. In recent days, local companies have already been forced to announce planned power outages and conservation measures.
Firefighters put out the blaze in the bus struck by a Russian drone in Kramatorsk, Ukraine
(Photo: Handout / Ukrainian State Emergency System/ AFP)
A public awareness campaign relaunched this month is now urging Ukrainian families to prepare for emergencies, stockpile drinking water and obtain alternative power sources in case of prolonged winter blackouts.
Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to strike deep inside Russia. Russian technology giant Yandex said Thursday that one of its data centers in the western Russian region of Ryazan was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, forcing the site offline and potentially disrupting online services. It was the first time Kyiv had struck a target of this kind.
Ukraine, for its part, said its forces attacked a large oil refinery complex in the Russian city of Salavat, about 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow. Ukraine’s General Staff described the complex as one of Russia’s largest oil refining and petrochemical facilities.