Russian Glide Bomb Kills 33 at Bus Stop in Ukraine's Kramatorsk

A Russian guided glide bomb struck two passenger buses at a stop on Yuvileina Street in Kramatorsk on the morning of 8 October, killing 33 people and wounding 18, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service and the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office. The attack occurred around 10:00 local time near a dental clinic. Both buses caught fire. Three additional people were killed in the nearby village of Bilenke.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strike as a deliberate hit on an ordinary public transport stop. He said some of the dead could not be identified because of the severity of their injuries and that Ukraine would respond. Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin ordered public transport suspended in Kramatorsk and neighbouring Sloviansk, stating that a bus full of passengers had become an attractive target because one strike could kill large numbers of civilians. He reported that Russian forces shelled settlements in the region 31 times in 24 hours and that more than 250 people, including 32 children, were evacuated from hit areas.

Ukrainian military intelligence identified the munition as a UMPB D-30SN, a guided glide bomb that can travel up to 100 kilometres when released from altitude and carries a warhead equivalent to a FAB-250. Kramatorsk and Sloviansk form part of the remaining Ukrainian-held “fortress belt” in Donetsk oblast. Russian forces have increased glide-bomb and drone strikes on the cities as Moscow seeks to seize the rest of the region. Traffic lights in Kramatorsk have been off since late September; drivers are advised not to stop because of drone threats.

The strike came one day after a Russian ballistic missile hit an apartment building in Pryluky, killing at least 22 people including three generations of one family. Across Ukraine, officials said Russian attacks killed 78 civilians over two days. Moscow has not commented on the Kramatorsk buses. Russia continues to deny that it deliberately targets civilians.

The death toll of 33 makes the attack one of the largest single civilian casualties from a glide bomb this year. Local sources told reporters that one of the bus drivers had planned to quit the following Monday and that public transport in the city was already operating with fewer vehicles and only the most determined drivers. The suspension of routes removes a remaining link for residents who still move within the city for medical appointments or supplies.

The pattern of strikes on buses, apartment blocks, and other civilian concentrations in the fortress cities continues while diplomatic contacts, including a reported phone call between the Russian and US presidents, discuss possible energy supplies and broader settlement terms. The immediate local effect is the further isolation of remaining civilian life in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.