Symbolic imageRussian bomb kills 33 on buses in Kramatorsk as Kyiv loses power
A Russian bomb hit two passenger buses in Kramatorsk on Thursday, killing 33 people. The same day, strikes cut power in most of Kyiv.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported 33 dead and 18 injured, and the regional prosecutor's office said a guided aerial bomb was likely used. Kramatorsk lies about 15 kilometres from the front line. Authorities halted public transport in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the two largest Donbas cities still under Ukrainian control. Prosecutors opened a preliminary war crime investigation, and Zelensky promised the attack would not go unanswered. It came a day after a Russian Kh-101 missile partly destroyed an apartment block in Pryluky on Wednesday, 7 October, killing 22 people, five of them children, and injuring 54.
Kyiv in the dark
By Thursday evening most Kyiv districts had no electricity after strikes disconnected parts of the grid, Ukraine's energy ministry said, and water supply and public transport were disrupted. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the day's attacks killed four people and injured at least 19.
Mayor urges some to leave
Klitschko told AFP that residents with friends or relatives outside Kyiv should consider leaving temporarily, saying "today the issue is survival". He ruled out calling for a full evacuation, which he called Putin's goal.
Talks amid escalation
Zelensky said strikes in recent days killed 78 people and injured 215, and that Ukraine's delegation would meet Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in the US on Friday and Saturday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the current stalemate "very dangerous".