Extract from ABC News
One of the two passenger buses struck by projectiles in Kramatorsk, near the frontline in eastern Ukraine. (Donetsk Region Prosecutor's Office via AFP)
In short:
At least 33 people have been killed in a Russian strike on a bus stop in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, authorities say.
The strikes come a day after 22 people were killed when a Russian missile struck a five-storey apartment block in Pryluky.
What's next?
President Zelenskyy says the bus attack will not go unanswered.
A Russian strike on a bus stop in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has killed at least 33 people, authorities say.
Another 18 people were wounded in the attack on Thursday, local time, on a street where two city buses were operating, police said.
Police said the buses were hit with a glide bomb.
Images posted to X by the Ukrainian parliament's commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, showed a burned-out shell of a bus. Another image showed several bodies strewn on the ground.
"Russia is systematically destroying Kramatorsk and terrorising civilians," Mr Lubinets said.
The Ukrainian parliament's commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, posted several images to social media calling for accountability. (Supplied: Dmytro Lubinets)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Russia's war in Ukraine is at a dangerous stalemate and the United States will continue to try to facilitate a settlement to end the conflict.
"We'd love to see a negotiated settlement to this war that is permanent, enduring, and fair," Mr Rubio told reporters during a visit to Portugal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiators will visit the United States for talks on Friday and Saturday, as he urged US President Donald Trump to step up pressure on Russia.
"One cannot, on the one hand, negotiate with the Russians about future economic projects, whilst on the other hand say that we find ourselves in some sort of … diplomatic stalemate,"he said.
Mr Zelenskyy also said there would be a response to the latest 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," he posted on X.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says search and rescue efforts are still underway after an apartment building was struck in Pryluky. (Supplied: Volodymyr Zelenskyy)
The strikes come just a day after five children were among 22 killed when a Russian missile struck a five-storey apartment block in Pryluky, in the northern Chernigiv region.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband visited the scene with Mr Zelenskyy on Thursday morning, local time.
Mr Miliband posted on social media, "My message was clear: we will stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes".
Moscow's forces have stepped up drone and guided-bomb strikes on Kramatorsk and other cities in Ukraine's so-called "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.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband (left) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak to the media in the town of Pryluky. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)
Civilian deaths increase
There has been mounting concern about the increase in civilian casualties in the conflict, as both sides step up long-range attacks beyond their borders.
Since Russia first invaded in 2022, Ukraine has accused its forces of deliberately attacking and killing civilians.
The United Nations has verified more than 17,000 civilian deaths throughout the war, but says the real number is considerably higher.
Kramatorsk City Council called the bus stop attack "another horrific crime committed by the Russian army against the civilian population".
"Once again, the Russians have struck a location where there are absolutely no military targets," it added.
Ukraine hits Russian data centre
Drones hit a data centre owned by Russia's Yandex, the country's leading AI and technology company said on Thursday, in the first major attack on a Russian data hub since the start of the war with Ukraine.
The company, often dubbed "Russia's Google", said its core consumer services were not affected, but did not describe the extent of the damage.
Russia has conducted a strike campaign on Ukrainian data centres and telecommunications infrastructure over the past month, including targets in central Kyiv.
Yandex said the attack on its Sasovo hub, one of its five large data centres, caused a fire and forced it to suspend operations at the site, which hosts tens of thousands of servers.
Reuters/AFP
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