A Russian strike hit two civilian buses in the frontline city of Kramatorsk on the morning of October 8, 2026, killing 33 people and injuring 18, according to Ukraine's emergency service and regional officials.
The attack took place at around 10 a.m. on a street where two scheduled buses were travelling, Ukraine's National Police said. An apartment building was also damaged, and fires broke out in both vehicles.
Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said the death toll rose rapidly through the day as emergency crews worked at the scene. Two of the dead could not immediately be identified because of the severity of their injuries, officials said.
The exact weapon remains under investigation. The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office said Russian forces likely used a UMPB D-30SN guided aerial bomb, while other Ukrainian officials described the strike as a glide-bomb attack.
Filashkin accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilian transport. "For them, a bus with passengers is an attractive target precisely because one strike can kill as many people as possible," he said.
Authorities ordered a complete suspension of public transport in Kramatorsk and neighbouring Sloviansk, citing a sharp deterioration in security. "We have no right to risk the lives of passengers and drivers," Filashkin said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack as a deliberate war crime, saying doctors were still fighting to save some of the injured and warning that the death toll could rise further. "This strike will not go without our response," he said, calling for a harsh international reaction.
Moscow has not commented on the attack. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians, though it has regularly struck Ukrainian cities and towns since its full-scale invasion in 2022.
The strike came amid a dramatic surge in Russian attacks across Ukraine. On Wednesday, a major air assault killed dozens, including 22 people — five of them children — when a five-storey apartment block was destroyed in Pryluky, east of Kyiv.
Separately on Thursday morning, drone strikes on Kyiv killed three people and wounded 14, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The United Nations said last week that more Ukrainian civilians were killed in the first eight months of 2026 than in all of 2025, with at least 368 civilians killed and 2,314 wounded in August alone.
What is confirmed: 33 people were killed and 18 injured in the Kramatorsk bus strike, according to Ukrainian emergency and regional officials; public transport is suspended in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
What remains unknown: the precise type of munition used, whether the death toll will rise further, and any Russian account of the incident.
What is awaited: the results of a war-crimes investigation opened by the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, and any official response from Moscow.