A drone strike has killed seven people and wounded 11 others after hitting a passenger bus in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine, Moscow-installed authorities in the Donetsk region said Wednesday.
The incident occurred in the town of Yenakiyevo, where the bus was reportedly travelling on a route from Moscow to Simferopol in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
According to Denis Pushilin, head of the Russia-installed administration in the Donetsk region, the vehicle was struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) while in transit.
“In Yenakiyevo, a UAV attacked a Moscow–Simferopol coach; according to preliminary reports, seven civilians were killed,” Pushilin wrote on Telegram. He added that 11 other passengers sustained injuries of varying severity and were receiving medical treatment.
The attack comes amid intensified aerial exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, as both sides continue to launch drone and missile strikes nearly four years into the conflict.
Russia launched a major overnight barrage on Ukraine earlier in the week, which Ukrainian officials said killed at least 23 people and caused significant damage in cities including Kyiv and Dnipro.
In a separate incident, Ukrainian authorities said a Russian drone strike killed an 86-year-old woman in the southern Kherson region. Yaroslav Shanko, head of the Kherson City Military Administration, said she died from injuries sustained during the attack.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences intercepted 354 Ukrainian drones overnight across several regions, including areas near the Ukrainian border, annexed Crimea, and regions around Moscow.
The ministry said drones were downed over Belgorod, Kursk, the Sea of Azov, and other western regions.
The latest escalation underscores the continuing intensity of cross-border drone warfare between the two countries, with both sides reporting frequent strikes on civilian and infrastructure targets.
