At least 33 dead in Russian bomb blast in east Ukraine stronghold

A ⁠Russian bomb attack on ⁠the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk ⁠killed at least 33 people, authorities said on Thursday, describing it as a targeted strike on civilians in the key stronghold sought by Moscow.

Another 18 people were wounded in one of the largest single attacks this year, ‌which took place on a street where police said two city buses were operating at the time of the strike. President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as a bus stop.

Images posted by police showed bodies strewn across a street littered with debris, as well as a charred shell of what appeared to be a bus.

“For them [the ⁠Russians], a bus with passengers is an attractive target precisely because one strike can kill ‌as many people as possible,” regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on the Telegram app.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the attack. Russia denies ‌targeting civilians, though it has regularly pounded Ukrainian cities, towns and other targets ⁠during its full-scale invasion ⁠that began in February 2022.

Moscow’s forces have stepped up drone and guided-bomb strikes on Kramatorsk ‌and other cities in Ukraine’s “fortress belt”, local officials say, the backbone of its defences in the Donetsk region.

Russia has demanded that ‌Ukraine ‌cede the rest of the region still under its control before it stops fighting, ‌which Kyiv refuses to do. The pace of Moscow’s battlefield gains in the region has significantly ⁠slowed this year.

Filashkin said he had ordered city authorities in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, another key ⁠fortress-belt city, to halt public transport, saying “we have no right to risk” citizens’ lives.

Thursday’s attack came a day after dozens were killed in a massive Russian air ‌attack across Ukraine, primarily ‌targeting the country’s power grid.

Separately on Thursday, three people were killed and 14 wounded in morning drone strikes on the capital Kyiv, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Russian forces have unleashed frequent waves of attacks on Kyiv amid a shortage of Ukrainian air defences.