Russian Glide Bomb Kills Dozens in Kramatorsk as Moscow Escalates Attacks on Ukraine's Transportation Network

A Russian glide bomb struck two passenger buses in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk on Thursday morning, killing at least 30 people and wounding 18, according to regional authorities who stated the attack was deliberate. Dropped from planes on the Russian side of the front line, such bombs glide to fixed coordinates, hitting a street located about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) from the front line.

“The Russians are deliberately targeting civilians,” regional administration head Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram. “For them, a bus full of passengers is an attractive target precisely because a single strike can kill the maximum number of people.” Filashkin ordered the suspension of public transportation in Kramatorsk and neighbouring Sloviansk as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukraine's transport infrastructure, including trains, minibuses, gas stations, bridges, seaports, and freight ships.

“This is a new Russian tactic,” Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta think tank, told Al Jazeera, explaining that the objective is to immobilise infrastructure and create a transportation collapse to coerce Ukraine into peace on Russian conditions. United Nations data notes that during the first eight months of 2026, 15,280 civilians were killed or injured, a toll 55 percent higher than the same period in 2025.

With civilian airspace closed since the 2022 full-scale invasion, trains, buses, and trucks have become critical lifelines. Trains handle nearly two-thirds of Ukraine’s freight volumes, including vital steel and grain exports. According to the state-run railway monopoly Ukrzaliznytsia, at least 521 locomotives have been hit by drones and shelling since 2022, with three-fifths struck in 2023. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously condemned such attacks as acts of terrorism not militarily justified.

Advancements in drone technology have enabled Russian forces to strike moving targets more effectively. Jet-powered drones with larger payloads are piloted by human operators using wireless mesh networks or ground-based modems, according to Andriy Pronin. Ukrainian officials report that hundreds of recruits, including teenagers, have been recruited via Telegram by Russian intelligence to assist with the operations.

The impact of these strikes is felt nationwide. In western Ukraine, a drone struck a train station near Yahodyn just 30 minutes after a train carrying former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson crossed into Poland. Former CIA chief David Petraeus described a nearby train attack as terrifying. In Kyiv, residents like Alyna face constant air raid alerts near the central railway station, while in Zaporizhzhia, professor Tetiana Melikhova and students like Tetiana Bubynets contend with the daily threat of AI-driven drones targeting infrastructure.