At least 30 people were killed on Thursday when a Russian aerial bomb struck two buses in the front-line Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, according to local officials. Ukraine’s National Police reported that another 18 people sustained injuries when the explosive hit a street at 10 a.m. local time. Vadym Filashkin, the regional governor of Kramatorsk, accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians. Following the attack, Filashkin announced the suspension of public transport in Kramatorsk and the neighboring city of Sloviansk, citing a sharp deterioration in regional security. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on social media that the strike hit an ordinary public transport stop. In a subsequent update, he noted that medical personnel were fighting to save the survivors and that several victims remained unidentified due to the severity of their injuries. Kramatorsk is situated near the active front line in Ukraine’s industrial Donbass region, which has remained a primary focus of Russian military objectives. Civilian casualties have mounted as Moscow escalates nationwide airstrikes while Ukraine faces shortages of air defense munitions. Zelenskyy emphasized the urgent need for promised defense packages from international allies, stating that supplies of anti-ballistic capabilities, combat aircraft ammunition, and interceptor investments are critical to saving lives. The incident followed a missile strike a day earlier on a northern residential building that killed 22 people, including five children. Zelenskyy visited the site of that northern attack on Thursday, noting that over one hundred residential buildings were damaged alongside local infrastructure. Meanwhile, Moscow has consistently denied that its military deliberately targets civilians. In related developments, Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian negotiators are scheduled to visit the United States for diplomatic talks on Friday and Saturday, urging increased international pressure on Russia.
Source: nbcnews.com
