Russian strike kills 33 on two buses in Kramatorsk

A Russian guided bomb struck two passenger buses in Kramatorsk on 8 October 2026, killing at least 33 people and injuring 18 others, Ukrainian authorities said. The strike occurred at around 10 a.m. local time on a street in the eastern Ukrainian city, as two municipal buses carrying passengers were operating along the route.ilkha.com

The attack makes Kramatorsk the site of the deadliest single strike this year in Ukraine. Ukraine's State Emergency Service raised the death toll to 33 from an earlier figure of 30, while the number of wounded remained at 18. Prosecutors have opened a criminal case into the attack, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said some of the injured remained in critical condition.albeu.com+1

What the strike hit

Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko said the buses were at a stop when the bomb struck. He said there was no information indicating that children were among those killed or wounded, with preliminary reports suggesting that all the victims were adults. The attack also damaged a residential building and triggered fires in the buses and an open area, Ukrainian authorities said.

Kramatorsk city council said civilian buses were carrying passengers at the time of the attack. The council added that for frontline Kramatorsk, where only a fraction of the population remains due to constant Russian shelling and evacuations, every trip across the city is an inherent daily risk. The city council described the attack as a horrific crime against the civilian population and said there were no military targets in the area hit.

Ukrainian authorities said the weapon was believed to be a UMPB D-30 SN guided aerial bomb, a munition fitted with small wings that allow it to glide through the air toward its target. Earlier reports described the attack more generally as a glide-bomb strike. Rescue workers extinguished the fires and assisted the injured at the scene.

The weapon and the mechanism

Donetsk Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilians, saying Russia comes to Ukrainian land with death and hits cities and kills people. He said a passenger bus was an especially vulnerable target because a single strike could cause mass casualties. Filashkin said Russian forces had shelled settlements 31 times over the previous 24 hours.

The strike came a day after a Russian missile hit a residential building in Pryluky, killing 22 people including five children, three of them one year old, and injuring more than 50. Since August, Moscow has launched a wave of retaliatory attacks in response to Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil refineries and marketplaces.thesaturdaypaper.com.au

Wider attacks across Ukraine

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 142 Shahed-type drones overnight, including 82 jet-powered drones, with Ukrainian air defenses reporting that 126 were shot down or suppressed. In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a bombardment killed three people and injured 14 others, two of them critically, and forced students to shelter in bunkers.

Authorities ordered the suspension of all public transportation in Kramatorsk and neighbouring Sloviansk, citing the deteriorating security situation and the risk of further attacks. Filashkin urged residents who remain in the Donetsk region to leave for safer parts of Ukraine, saying the safety of civilians is paramount and that authorities have no right to put the lives of passengers and drivers at risk.

Moscow has not publicly commented on the strike and has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians. Zelenskyy said the strike will not go unanswered and that Russia is trying to destroy all life in Donbas. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there does not seem to be any prospect of a negotiated settlement, as the Russians are making a condition of full control of Donetsk, which Ukraine rejects as unacceptable.