Ukraine: Several Killed as Russia Strikes Bus and Other Civilian Targets

Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least nine people, including a child, while Ukrainian drone attacks in Russia and occupied areas killed five. The escalating exchanges come as Kyiv pushes for an Easter ceasefire, with civilians increasingly affected on both sides.

Russian artillery barrages and aerial strikes across Ukraine killed at least nine people on Tuesday, including a child, according to Ukrainian officials, as the war continues to intensify with heavy civilian casualties reported on both sides. The attacks form part of a broader escalation marked by frequent long-range missile and drone strikes targeting cities, infrastructure, and frontline communities.
At the same time, Ukrainian drone operations struck targets inside Russia and in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, killing five people, also including a child. These cross-border attacks underline the widening scope of the conflict, with both sides increasingly capable of striking deep into each other’s territory.
The latest exchange of strikes comes amid Kyiv’s push for a temporary ceasefire ahead of Orthodox Easter, which is expected to be observed later this week. However, the surge in hostilities suggests that prospects for even a short-term truce remain uncertain, as both sides continue military operations.
In southern Ukraine, Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson, killing four civilians and injuring several others. Regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin described the shelling as “hell,” highlighting the intensity and destruction caused by the bombardment in an area that has frequently come under attack since being partially liberated by Ukrainian forces.
Further east, in the frontline city of Nikopol, located along the Dnipro River which effectively serves as a dividing line in the southern theater of the war, a Russian drone targeted a passenger bus. The strike killed four people and left the vehicle severely damaged. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack, accusing Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilians and spreading terror among residents of frontline communities.
The explosion ripped through a yellow minibus in Nikopol, a city that once had a population of around 100,000 people before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 dramatically reduced its population and disrupted daily life. Russian ground troops continue efforts to push forward in the wider Dnipropetrovsk region, maintaining pressure on Ukrainian defenses in the area.
In another incident in the same region, a separate passenger bus was struck by a drone, according to regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha. That attack left five people injured, further demonstrating the dangers faced by civilians relying on public transportation. Officials say that drone strikes on civilian vehicles, including buses in the Dnipro region, have become increasingly frequent in recent weeks.
Overnight, a separate Russian drone strike in the Dnipropetrovsk region killed an 11-year-old boy and wounded five others, adding to the growing list of civilian casualties and reinforcing concerns about the humanitarian impact of the conflict.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone strikes also caused casualties within Russia and in territories under Russian control. In the Vladimir region, located east of Moscow, a drone strike killed five civilians, including a 12-year-old boy and his parents, according to local authorities.
In the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine, drones struck a school in the village of Velikaya Znamenka. A local official was killed while attempting to help children evacuate the building. Six people were injured in the attack, including five children, according to Moscow-installed governor Yevgeny Balitsky.
Elsewhere, in Russian-controlled Kherson, a Ukrainian drone strike killed a woman in her fifties, according to Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-backed regional head. These incidents illustrate how the conflict continues to affect civilians on both sides of the front lines.
In a separate development, the Ukrainian military reported that it had carried out a strike on Russia’s Ust-Luga oil terminal, a significant hub for the country’s oil exports. Attacks on such facilities are part of Kyiv’s broader strategy to weaken Russia’s economic capacity to sustain the war.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian energy infrastructure, particularly oil facilities, in an effort to disrupt supply chains and reduce revenue streams that fund military operations. Ukrainian officials have also warned that global geopolitical tensions, including those linked to the US-Israeli confrontation with Iran, could drive up energy prices and potentially benefit Russia’s oil sector despite years of Western sanctions.
The continued escalation of attacks, both within Ukraine and across Russian territory, underscores the deepening intensity of the conflict. With both sides showing little sign of de-escalation and diplomatic efforts making limited progress, civilians remain highly vulnerable, bearing the brunt of a war that continues to expand in scale and impact.