Russian glide bomb kills at least 30 on Kramatorsk buses
A Russian glide bomb hit two passenger buses in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Thursday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 18. Officials halted public transport in Kramatorsk and nearby Sloviansk, part of a defensive line Russia wants to capture. Ukrainian officials are due to meet U.S. envoys this week as peace talks stall.
A Russian bomb tore through two city buses in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.
At least 30 people were killed and 18 wounded in Kramatorsk, Ukrainian officials said. The glide bomb hit the buses as they drove along a street and also struck a home, DW reported. Three more people were killed in the nearby village of Bilenke, the BBC reported.
Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said Russia targets buses because one strike can kill so many people. He ordered all public transport in Kramatorsk and nearby Sloviansk to stop. "We have no right to risk the lives of passengers and drivers," he said. Prosecutors opened a war-crimes investigation.
"This strike will not go unanswered," President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Moscow had not commented, the BBC reported.
Kramatorsk is part of Ukraine's so-called "fortress belt," a chain of heavily defended cities in Donetsk. Russia is pressing on that line as Vladimir Putin seeks all of the Donbas region, The Washington Post reported.
The attack came a day after a missile strike on an apartment block in Pryluky killed 22 people, including five children. Russian drones and missiles also hit Kyiv again Thursday. Power cuts there briefly stopped the city's metro.
Diplomacy is stuck. A Ukrainian team is set to meet U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the United States over two days starting Oct. 9, the Kyiv Independent reported. Talks will focus on a possible energy and Black Sea ceasefire. Zelensky said he hopes a European team will join. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that ending the war through talks is not possible right now, because Russia demands all of Donetsk.
How this fits: For much of the war, Kramatorsk served as a supply hub for Ukraine's army. Now it is hit almost daily as Russian forces close in on its eastern edge. The UN says more civilians were killed in Ukraine by August this year than in all of 2025, the BBC reported.
What we know: At least 30 people died on the buses, and public transport in two cities is suspended.
What we don't: The final death toll, and whether this week's talks will produce any ceasefire.
Where outlets agree The BBC, DW and The Washington Post all report that a Russian glide bomb attack on buses in Kramatorsk killed at least 30 people and wounded 18.
Where they differ DW, citing Mayor Vitali Klitschko, says Russian strikes on Kyiv on Thursday killed three people and wounded 13, while the BBC, citing Kyiv police, says four were killed and two injured.