At least 30 people killed when Russian bomb hits two buses on Ukrainian frontline Thursday in the town of Kramatorsk, local officials said, as Moscow’s attacks intensified and became increasingly deadly.
Eighteen other people were injured when the bomb hit a city street at 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET), Ukraine’s national police said in a statement.
Kramatorsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians, sharing images of a charred bus wreck and bodies and body parts on the road next to it. Filashkin said he was closing public transport in the city and neighboring Sloviansk due to “the sharp deterioration of the security situation.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement on his social media that Russia had hit “an ordinary public transport stop” in Kramatorsk with an aerial bomb.
In a later article, he said that medics were fighting to save the lives of the injured and that “some of those killed have still not been identified due to the severity of their injuries.”
Kramatorsk is close to the active front line and is part of Ukraine’s industrial Donbass region, which has been at the heart of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war plans.
Civilian casualties have increased as Russia steps up attacks across Ukraine, which is short on air defense munitions.
Zelensky said in a social media post that it was important for the country to receive “Ukraine’s new defense programs” promised by its allies. “The provision of anti-ballistic capabilities, ammunition for our fighter jets and investments in interceptors – all of this directly contributes to saving lives every day,” he added.
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Russian bombs hit Ukrainian public buses
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His comments come as Ukraine has suffered a surge in daytime attacks in recent weeks, creating a round-the-clock threat to civilians.
Thursday’s strike comes a day after a missile strike on a residential building in the country’s north killed 22 people, including five children.
Zelensky visited the site of that attack on Thursday, saying in a message on Telegram: “More than a hundred residential buildings were damaged, as well as educational institutions, kindergartens, shops, businesses and infrastructure that supports normal life in the city. »
Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians in Ukraine.
Separately, Reuters reported that Zelensky said Ukrainian negotiators would travel to the United States for negotiations on Friday and Saturday.
Urging President Donald Trump to step up pressure on Russia, he said: “You can’t, on the one hand, negotiate with the Russians on future economic projects, and on the other hand say that we are in some kind of diplomatic impasse. »
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