Russia Strikes on Ukraine Buses Kill 3010/09 06:30

   

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- A Russian-guided bomb exploded next to public buses 
filled with passengers in eastern Ukraine, authorities said Thursday, killing 
30 people as part of a wave of attacks that also worsened power outages in the 
capital.

   The morning attack occurred next to a bus stop in the war-torn city of 
Kramatorsk in Ukraine's Donetsk region, prompting public transport to be 
suspended in the area.

   "There is no doubt that Russia is cynically targeting civilians," Oleksandr 
Honcharenko, head of the city's military administration, said, adding that the 
rescue effort had been hampered by subsequent Russian attacks using small 
drones.

   Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies 
remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since 
Moscow's full-scale invasion. Russia has escalated its aerial attack in recent 
weeks, putting pressure on Ukraine as it prepares for winter and hitting the 
infrastructure keeping its war-battered economy afloat. Recent targets have 
included energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping 
centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.

   Thursday's attack followed a Russian missile strike a day earlier that 
killed 22, including five children, in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky. 
Rescuers were searching the rubble of a residential building. At least 54 
people were wounded. Several survivors slept in heavily damaged apartments 
because they couldn't find anywhere else to stay.

   Ukraine appeals for more defense support from NATO 

   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Pryluky on Thursday with 
visiting British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who announced new sanctions on 
Russia.

   Zelenskyy warned that Russia will likely escalate daily missile and drone 
attacks as winter approaches. He appealed for additional defense support from 
NATO countries.

   "It is important that support in words takes concrete form in new packages 
for Ukraine's defense," he wrote in an online post. "Supplies of anti-ballistic 
capabilities, ammunition for our combat aircraft and investments in 
interceptors -- all of this is directly helping save lives every day."

   In audio clips responding to journalist's questions Thursday evening, 
Zelenskyy said a Ukrainian delegation would meet in the U.S. with President 
Donald Trump's representatives Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff for two days 
beginning Friday to discuss strengthening Ukraine's air defenses, among other 
issues.

   Ukraine's energy company DTEK said national grid operator Ukrenergo had 
ordered emergency power outages in Kyiv. Regular, rolling outages that occur on 
a schedule across the country will be halted during these shutdowns.

   Officials are urging families to prepare emergency kits, store drinking 
water and maintain backup power sources, as Moscow keeps up the intensity of 
its attacks.

   Kyiv police said bomb disposal specialists defused two unexploded ballistic 
missile warheads, each weighing about half a ton, after they landed near 
residential buildings. Late Wednesday, Russian drones struck Kyiv's Obolonskyi 
and Desnianskyi districts, killing four people and injuring 12, including four 
children, police said.

   Ukrainian attacks damage data center and oil refinery 

   Russian technology giant Yandex said one of its data centers in the western 
Ryazan region was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, taking the site offline.

   Also Thursday, Ukraine said its forces struck a large oil refinery complex 
in the city of Salavat, some 1,200 kilometers (about 750 miles) east of Moscow. 
Ukraine's General Staff described the complex as one of Russia's largest oil 
refining and petrochemical facilities. The claim could not be independently 
verified.

   Ukrainian drones also reached Russia's Omsk region in western Siberia, more 
than 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from the border with Ukraine. Omsk regional 
Gov. Vitaly Khotsenko said most of the drones were shot down by air defenses, 
but one "reached a northern industrial hub." He didn't elaborate. Russian 
independent news outlet Astra reported that the Omsk oil refinery was on fire 
after the attack. There was no official confirmation of the report.

   Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said his government presented proposals 
to both Russia and Ukraine aimed at protecting civilian shipping in the Black 
Sea, while warning that commercial trade and grain exports could be disrupted 
by escalating military offensives.

   Separately, Lithuania deployed about 100 additional soldiers to help secure 
the NATO member's border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, the Baltic 
country's defense minister, Robertas Kaunas, said. Sandwiched between Lithuania 
and Poland, Kaliningrad is separated from mainland Russia and remains a major 
security concern for NATO's eastern flank.