President Zelenskyy said Russia was “trying to destroy all life in Donbas” and that the attack would “not go unanswered.”
KYIV — At least 30 people were killed and 18 injured in a Russian attack on two buses in Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s Donbas region Thursday morning.
“At the time of the attack, civilian buses were carrying passengers. People just going by their day,” Kramatorsk city council said in a statement. “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. There are few people left here. Yet, even civilian vehicles carrying passengers become targets of Russian terror,” the city council added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said doctors were “fighting to save the lives of people injured” and that the number of fatalities may still rise. “Some of those killed have still not been identified because of the severity of their injuries. My condolences to all their families and loved ones,” he added. Prosecutors have opened a criminal case into the attack.
“This strike will not go unanswered. Russia is trying to destroy all life in Donbas, and a response from the world is a must. A forceful response — exactly as the Russians deserve for all the deaths they have brought,” Zelenskyy added.
In an interview Thursday, U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio said that currently “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.”
Russia has claimed that a key objective of its invasion is to save the Russian-speakers of Donbas from “genocide conducted by Ukraine,” with President Vladimir Putin saying on Oct. 1 his country would “liberate” Donbas much sooner than Ukraine expects. Moscow has so far issued no statement on the latest strike, but has repeatedly denied targeting Ukrainian civilians.
This latest strike comes just a day after Russia’s missile strike on a residential building in Pryluky killed 22 and injured 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.