Eight killed after drone hits bus in Russian-occupied part of Ukraine

The bus was hit in the eastern Donetsk region, an official says. Eight killed after drone hits bus in Russian-occupied part of Ukraine Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. At least eight people were killed in the drone strike, Russian state media report A wide shot of a burnt out bus in Donetsk. The top half of the white vehicle is completely destroyed. Eight people have been killed and 10 others injured after a drone hit a passenger bus travelling through a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine, Russia has said. Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-installed head of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, said the bus was struck in the early hours of Wednesday as it was travelling between a city near Moscow and Simferopol, in Russian-annexed Crimea. Russia has claimed the strike was by a Ukrainian drone. When asked by the BBC whether Kyiv was behind the attack, Ukraine's general staff did not confirm nor deny but said it would not comment "on statements made by the aggressor state". In a Ukraine-held part of the Donetsk region, three people were killed and one injured in Russian shelling of the city of Kramatorsk, local official Vadym Filashkin said. Elsewhere on Wednesday, black smoke could be seen rising over Russia's second largest city of St Petersburg, with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky confirming an oil terminal had been hit there. black smoke could be seen rising over Russia's second largest city of St Petersburg, lack smoke could be seen rising over Russia's second largest city of St Petersburg, with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky confirming an oil terminal had been hit there. The attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin's hometown thousands of kilometres from Ukraine's border comes as St Petersburg hosts the annual International Economic Forum, an event designed to showcase Russia to the world. Putin is due to speak there on Friday. The strikes come a day after a massive Russian assault on cities across Ukraine killed at least 22 people, including several women and children. on cities across Ukraine killed at least 22 people, including several women and children. In Donetsk, Russian investigators said they had opened a criminal case into what they described as a "terrorist attack" on civilians. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the strike A frontal view of a destroyed civilian bus in the Russian-occupied region of Donetsk. The inside of the white bus is completely burnt out and the windows have been shattered. Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee, said authorities were working to establish the identities of those responsible for the strike. Fifty-three people had been registered to travel on the bus, Russia's state-run media report, however, none of the victims' identities have been released yet. Drone strike hits Russian oil depot in St Petersburg area Smoke rising over an oil depot near St Petetsburg Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian government's centre for combating disinformation, has talked about a "parallel reality" created by Russian state propaganda, while not explicitly denying claims that the strike took place. "Russia attacks civilians with drones all the time... of course, when everyone is talking about this, when there is evidence of such actions by the Russians, they use their main propaganda tool: creating a parallel reality," he told the BBC. "Against this background of attacks on our civilians, they come up with stories in which Ukraine acts just like Russia. This is done to justify their own terror as a response to our actions." A BBC map titled “Areas of Russian military control in Ukraine” shows Ukraine and surrounding countries in Eastern Europe. Ukraine is displayed centrally in white, bordered by Belarus to the north, Russia to the east, and Moldova to the southwest. The Black Sea appears in blue along Ukraine’s southern coast. Areas shaded in pink/red indicate regions under Russian military control, primarily concentrated in the east and south of Ukraine, including much of the Donetsk region, a southern corridor stretching westward toward Kherson, and the entire Crimea peninsula, which is labelled and outlined. Thin orange lines indicate areas of claimed Russian control, while red diagonal stripes mark zones of limited Russian military control, especially along the active front line in eastern Ukraine. Major cities are labelled with black dots, including Kyiv (central north), Lviv (west), Kharkiv (northeast), Donetsk (east), Zaporizhzhia(southeast-central), Kherson (south), Odesa (southwest coast), and Kursk in Russia. Country names (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova) are written in large capital letters. A small inset globe in the top-left corner highlights Ukraine’s location in Europe. A scale bar in the lower-left corner shows distances of 100 km and 100 miles. The legend at the bottom explains the color coding: Pink/red: Russian military control Red stripes: Limited Russian military control Orange: Claimed Russian control Black outline: Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 A source note reads: “Source: ISW and AEI's Critical Threats Project (21:00 GMT, 28 May)”, with a BBC logo in the bottom-right corner. Drones were downed over Belgorod, Kursk and other western regions, as well as near Moscow and over the Sea of Azov, Russian officials added. In total, Russia says it shot down 350 Ukrainian drones overnight. At least 50 of those were downed over the Leningrad region north-west of Moscow, according to the regional governor Alexander Drozdenko. St Petersburg is the capital of the region. "Important facilities on Russian territory were hit last night," Zelensky wrote on X, sharing a video of black smoke rising above St Petersburg. He described the strikes as "long-range sanctions" and said Ukrainian forces also hit military targets in Russia's Tambov region. Zelensky said Ukraine hit a number of "important targets" in St Petersburg on Wednesday Black smoke rises after Ukraine reportedly launched unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks on the opening day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum These overnight strikes saw St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport temporarily restrict flights, according to Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia. Earlier, an 86-year-old woman was killed following a drone attack in Ukraine's southern Kherson region overnight, Yaroslav Shanko, head of the city's military administration said. This came as part of a wider attack by Moscow overnight, with Ukraine's air force saying Russia launched 198 drones at several different regions, 189 of which were shot down. The latest wave of strikes comes a day after Russia launched one of its largest attacks on Ukraine since its full-scale invasion began in 2022. At least 22 people were killed after Russia launched more than 700 missiles and drones overnight into Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said. Russia's defence ministry said the strikes had been a response to previous Ukrainian attacks, saying in a statement that the "strike objectives" had all been achieved. The Kremlin said on Tuesday it was carrying out the "systematic strikes" it had pledged after accusing Kyiv of a deadly attack on a student dormitory in an occupied part of eastern Ukraine in late May. Kyiv said it had hit a Russian military unit. "This practice will continue," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, claiming the strikes were targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure. Additional reporting by Vitaly Shevchenko. An elderly woman stands in the entrance to a damaged apartment block. To her left is a badly damaged car with no windows. Debris lies all around. 'They'll fix the building, but not our souls': Sleepy Kyiv neighbourhood hit in Russian strike President Putin wearing a white shirt, dotted blue tie and blue suit, gestures with his hands as he speaks at a white podium with two microphones. A light green patterned curtain stands to the left of the picture. Putin remains uncompromising on Ukraine, but is public discourse on war changing in Russia? Several long-range drones struck oil storage facilities near the city, days before Vladimir Putin is due to address the event. Russia is intensifying attacks in Ukraine but more than four years of war are causing concern even among Putin loyalists. An eight-year-old boy killed in a strike on an apartment block are among the dead, officials say. Reform leader David Bick says the move does not mean support for the Ukrainian people has reduced. Scenes of devastation greet residents emerging from underground shelters after a major Russian attack. A British helicopter provided support during the operation on Sunday, the UK ministry of defence says. Russian drones are targeting public buses in Kherson, killing three transport workers so far this year. From enigmatic KGB agent to wartime ruler, this is how Putin has repeatedly reinvented his image, and himself.