At least 33 people killed in strikes on Ukrainian public buses

Thirty people were killed and at least 18 were injured by Russian strikes in eastern Ukraine that included an attack on a public bus, authorities said Thursday, as an intensive pre-winter wave of attacks continued and power outages worsened in the capital Kyiv.

Ukrainian authorities set up netting to stop the drone attacks, according to the Associated Press Ukraine news director.

Vadym Filashkin, head of the regional military administration, said public transport in Kramatorsk and the neighboring city of Sloviansk, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, was halted because of the sharp deterioration in security.

He accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians, adding: “In such circumstances, we have no right to risk the lives of passengers and drivers. The safety of residents of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk is above all.”

The attacks follow deadly missile strikes a day earlier in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky, where the death toll rose to 22, including five children.

Rescuers searched through the rubble of a residential building hit by a Russian missile and at least 54 people were injured.

Heavy debris was removed from the cratered section of the building, while rescue dogs continued a search nearby for residents who have not yet been accounted for.

Several survivors of the attack were forced to sleep in heavily damaged apartments after they couldn't find anywhere else to sleep.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr 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.”

Late Wednesday, Russian drones struck Kyiv’s Obolonskyi and Desnianskyi districts, killing four people and injuring 12, including four children, police said.

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.

Separately, 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.