At least 30 people have been killed after two passenger buses were struck by a Russian glide bomb in Kramatorsk, a frontline city in eastern Ukraine, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow that the attack would not go unanswered.   Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in Thursday’s attack, October 8, describing it as one of the deadliest single strikes in recent weeks. Photographs released by local authorities showed the burnt-out remains of the buses, with debris and bodies scattered across the road. Zelensky warned that the death toll could rise and called on the international community to respond to the attack. “Russia is trying to destroy all life in (the) Donbas (region) and the world must respond to this,” he wrote on Telegram. Police said the buses were hit by a glide bomb, while emergency services reported that three additional people were killed in shelling in a nearby village. The attack came a day after a Russian missile strike destroyed a five-storey apartment building in Pryluky, in northern Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. The earlier strike reportedly killed 22 people, including five children. Ukraine Accuses Russia of Targeting Civilians Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilians and disregarding international humanitarian law. Kramatorsk City Council also condemned the attack, describing it as another crime against the civilian population. The council said the location had no military targets, although the city has served as an important logistics and supply hub for Ukraine’s military throughout the conflict. Kramatorsk, which had a pre-war population of approximately 150,000, remains one of the key cities in the eastern Donetsk region that Russian forces have yet to capture. The city forms part of Ukraine’s so-called fortress belt, a network of strategically important locations that Ukrainian troops are fighting to retain. Civilian Deaths Mount as Attacks Intensify The latest casualties have renewed concerns about the growing toll on civilians as Russia and Ukraine intensify long-range attacks during the conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The United Nations has verified more than 17,000 civilian deaths since the invasion, while warning that the actual figure is considerably higher. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who visited the site of the Pryluky attack on Thursday, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of pursuing a strategy of terrorising civilians. His remarks came as the United Kingdom announced additional sanctions against Moscow. Zelensky also urged the United States to increase pressure on Russia, including by supplying Ukraine with improved air defence systems, to push Putin towards negotiations. Kyiv Faces Worsening Security Situation Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has also experienced increasingly intense attacks, including a barrage of Russian ballistic and cruise missiles and fast-moving, jet-powered drones on Wednesday. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said three people were killed and 14 injured in the capital on Thursday. Key transport bridges, railway infrastructure and parts of the energy network have also come under attack. Klitschko warned that Kyiv, which had been relatively spared from the destruction experienced in frontline areas during the early years of the war, needed to prepare for worsening security conditions. Meanwhile, Russian forces have advanced towards the eastern outskirts of Kramatorsk, prompting calls for civilians remaining in the area to relocate to safer parts of Ukraine. Following Thursday’s attack, Filashkin ordered the suspension of public transport in Kramatorsk and neighbouring Sloviansk, citing a sharp deterioration in security. Ukraine launched a counter-offensive against Russian forces around Lyman, north of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, last month. Ukrainian authorities reported some success in regaining pockets of territory.