Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of killing eight civilians and of wounding 11 more in a drone attack on a passenger bus travelling in a Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the region, said the Ukrainian drone had struck the bus when it stopped to pick up passengers in the settlement of Yenakiievo in Donetsk, along its route from Moscow to Simferopol in Russia-controlled Crimea.
Kyiv’s forces, he said in a statement, had “committed yet another act of unprecedented, inhuman aggression.” There was no immediate comment from Ukraine which, like Russia, denies deliberately targeting civilians.
Fifty-three people had been registered to travel on the bus. Russian investigators said they had opened a criminal case into what they described as a “terrorist attack”, and were working to establish the names of those responsible.
Video released by investigators showed the wreckage of the white passenger bus parked by the road. Parts of its metal roof had caved in, the interior was completely burnt out, and all of its windows were shattered.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the attack as part of a Ukrainian “manhunt” against civilians, while Rodion Miroshnik, a special ambassador for the ministry, said the attack was aimed at intimidating civilians.
Miroshnik accused Ukraine of using Western military and financial support “to paralyse civilian transport links and create unbearable living conditions.”
Russia itself conducted a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine on Tuesday which killed 23 people and wounded 130. Moscow said that attack was in response to a deadly Ukrainian assault on a dormitory in Russian-controlled Luhansk which Kyiv denies targeting.
(Reuters)
