A Russian glide bomb struck two passenger buses on a street in Kramatorsk on Thursday morning, killing 33 people and wounding 18 others, according to Ukrainian emergency services and regional authorities.

The attack occurred around 10 a.m. local time when the buses were operating on their routes in the Donetsk region city, which lies about 15 kilometers from the front line. The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office stated that Russian forces likely used a UMPB D-30SN guided aerial bomb. Fires broke out in the buses and an open area, and rescuers worked to extinguish them while aiding the injured.

Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilians. "For them, a bus with passengers is an attractive target precisely because one strike can kill as many people as possible," he said in a Telegram post. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the site as a bus stop. Kramatorsk city officials called the strike "yet another horrific crime committed by the Russian army against the civilian population" and noted the absence of military targets at the location.

The death toll rose throughout the day from initial reports of 12 killed. Three additional deaths occurred in the nearby village of Bilenke from related strikes. Public transportation was suspended in Kramatorsk and neighboring Sloviansk due to the deteriorating security situation.

Kramatorsk and Sloviansk form part of Ukraine's defensive "fortress belt" in Donbas, a region Russia has sought to control as a condition for ending the conflict. Moscow has not issued an immediate comment on the strike. This incident marks one of the deadliest single attacks in the area this year amid intensified Russian use of glide bombs and drones against Ukrainian-held cities near the front.

Earlier this month, a Russian FPV drone hit a passenger bus in Kramatorsk, wounding two people. The city has faced repeated strikes since the start of the full-scale invasion, including a 2022 missile attack on its railway station that killed at least 50 evacuees.