At least seven people were killed and 11 others injured after a drone attack struck a passenger bus in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, according to local authorities installed by Moscow.
Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-backed head of the Donetsk region, said the attack targeted a bus travelling between Moscow and Simferopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Writing on Telegram, Pushilin described the incident as a deadly strike on civilians travelling through the conflict-hit region, adding that emergency services were deployed to the scene to assist the victims.
Russia’s State Investigative Committee has since launched a criminal investigation into the attack, classifying the incident as an alleged act of terrorism.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko confirmed that investigators are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the strike and identify those responsible.
The latest attack comes amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with both sides accusing each other of carrying out deadly assaults in recent days.
On Tuesday, Russia launched a large-scale drone and missile barrage on Kyiv, which Moscow said was retaliation for an earlier attack on a dormitory in Russian-controlled Luhansk that resulted in casualties.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that further Russian military action could be imminent as fighting continues across multiple fronts.
The conflict, now entering another intense phase, has seen both sides exchange long-range drone and missile strikes, raising concerns over the growing toll on civilians caught in the crossfire.
