More killed in Kramatorsk as Russia targets Ukraine’s transportation system

What the report says

Russian forces intensified attacks on Ukraine’s transport network, with Al Jazeera reporting that a glide bomb hit two passenger buses in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, on Thursday morning. Regional authorities said at least 30 people were killed and 18 wounded. Ukrainian officials described the strike as deliberate and said the buses were targeted on a street about 20 kilometres from the front line.

According to the report, the Kramatorsk attack is part of a broader pattern of Russian strikes on trains, buses, ports, bridges, gas stations and freight ships that are disrupting civilian movement and commercial logistics. Regional authorities in Donetsk ordered public transport suspended in Kramatorsk and nearby Sloviansk. Al Jazeera quoted a Kyiv-based analyst saying the campaign reflects a shift from attacks on energy infrastructure toward efforts to immobilize transportation and create wider disruption.

The article says Ukraine’s transport system has become more important since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, because civilian flights have been suspended and rail and road networks now carry people, aid and most freight. It also notes that Ukrainian railway and intelligence officials have reported repeated damage to locomotives and passenger trains in recent years, including incidents involving drones and shelling.

The broader significance, as framed by Al Jazeera, is that the transport sector has become both a civilian lifeline and a strategic target, raising safety risks for passengers and complicating the movement of goods, humanitarian supplies and military logistics.