Russian strike kills at least 33 in eastern Ukraine in deadliest single attack this year

Kyiv, Ukraine — At least 33 people were killed on Thursday when a Russian strike caused two public buses to catch fire in eastern

Ukraine

, local authorities said, making it the deadliest single attack this year.

Another 18 people were injured in the attack in Kramatorsk, a city in the Donetsk region, which prompted authorities there to shut down the public transport system and urge people to move to safer parts of the country.

“The Russians are deliberately targeting civilians,” said Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration. “For them, a bus full of passengers is an attractive target precisely because a single strike can kill as many people as possible.”

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES) said the Russian strike caused a fire on two buses and in the surrounding area.

Police in Donetsk said Russian drones targeted officers who were helping victims of the strike. Police were still working to identify the victims of the strike, with some bodies having to be pieced together from fragments, they said in a statement.

Footage they released of the rescue operation shows bodies strewn across the road. Drones can be seen near the scene of the strike as responders load the injured onto stretchers and into emergency vehicles.

One emergency worker can be heard asking an injured woman for her name. The woman responds weakly, “Tanya…legs, legs.” Shots can be heard ringing out and the woman is put into an emergency vehicle.

Filashkin said he had ordered the suspension of public transportation in the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the wake of the attack and called on civilians to move to safer areas. “I urge everyone who remains in the Donetsk region to evacuate to safer regions of Ukraine,” he said.

“Russia is bringing death to Ukrainian soil. It is striking our cities, killing our people, and multiplying its crimes every day,” added Filashkin as he offered his condolences to the families and loved ones of victims.

CNN has reached out to Russia’s defense ministry for comment.

Ukraine’s team heads to the US

The deadly strike comes as Ukrainian negotiators are expected to visit the US for talks on Friday and Saturday. A source familiar with the matter told CNN US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would meet with Ukraine’s intelligence chief Rustem Umerov and Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky said in his nightly address on Thursday that the talks would last two days and that Ukraine counted on its European allies to join in.

He added Umerov and Budanov would also use the meeting to raise the issue of air defenses – a critical issue for Kyiv.

Earlier on ⁠Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the war in Ukraine is at a dangerous stalemate and that Washington remains committed to finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“We’d love to see a negotiated settlement to this war ⁠that is permanent, enduring, and fair. And that’s what we’re committed to continuing to do,” Rubio said during a visit to ⁠Portugal.

Reacting to his comments, Kremlin ‌spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia agreed with Rubio that ​the Ukraine conflict was at a stalemate.

“Yes, we agree with him,” Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Peskov as saying, adding it was up to diplomats to find ways of moving towards peace.

“The art of diplomacy precisely involves finding some way out that would allow ‌moving onto ⁠a peaceful track,” Peskov was quoted as telling journalists in Turkmenistan, according to Reuters on Thursday.

The past few months have been exceptionally deadly for Ukrainian civilians. Russia has been launching near daily mass aerial attacks against the country, taking advantage of Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptors.

A mass Russian missile attack on Kyiv in July killed 33 people across the city in a coordinated barrage. In August, 38 people were killed when a Russian drone strike on an ammunition depot near the capital triggered a large fire and multiple explosions that lasted hours in a residential area near Kyiv.

Both Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are crucial industrial cities close to the front line. Together with nearby Kostiantynivka and Druzhkivka, they form the core of Ukraine’s remaining “fortress belt” in the Donetsk region.

Kramatorsk has long served as a strategic rear point for the Ukrainian units serving along the eastern front – and as a place to which exhausted troops could retreat for a few days of rest before their next mission. But a press officer with Ukraine’s 93rd mechanized brigade told CNN last month that is no longer an option due to frequent shelling.

The fortress belt has slowly eroded over the past four and a half years. Its southernmost anchor, Kostyantynivka, has now been effectively lost as a stronghold.

CNN’s Ivana Kottasová and Jonny Hallam contributed to this report.

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