At least 30 people have been killed and 18 others injured after a Russian airstrike hit a public transport bus in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine.
The attack occurred after an aerial bomb hit the vehicle near a dental clinic on Yuvileina Street, causing a second bus to catch fire.
Confirming the casualties on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the attack appeared to have deliberately targeted civilians and that some of those killed could not be identified because of the severity of their injuries.
He said the number of victims could rise as doctors continued efforts to save those injured, while calling on Ukraine’s allies to take stronger steps to improve the country’s air defence.
The latest attack came a day after another Russian strike hit a five-storey residential building in Pryluky, in the northern Chernihiv region, killing at least 22 people, including five children.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who visited the scene with Zelenskyy, said the attacks showed what he described as Russia’s continued effort to frighten Ukrainian civilians.
Kramatorsk and neighbouring Sloviansk are among the last major cities in northern Donetsk still under Ukrainian control and remain important areas in the war.
Russia has not publicly accepted responsibility for the specific attack in Kramatorsk, while its position on the Ukrainian officials’ accusations was not included in the report.