The death toll from a Russian strike targeting two buses in Kramatorsk, near the front line in eastern Ukraine, has risen to 30, with 18 people injured, local authorities said on Thursday, as reciprocal attacks between Moscow and Kyiv extended to technology facilities and data centres in Russia and Ukraine.
Death toll from Kramatorsk bus strike
The Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office said the death toll from the attack, which took place on Thursday morning, had reached 30, with 18 people also injured. The regional governor’s office announced the same figures, saying public transport services in Kramatorsk and neighbouring Sloviansk had been suspended because of what it called “the deteriorating security situation”.
In the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv’s mayor announced that air defence systems had been activated and urged residents to remain in safe places, amid continuing Russian air raids on various parts of the country and an escalation in long-range attacks by both sides.
Dead and injured in Pryluky raid
The agency said in a statement posted on its social media accounts that the raid took place at night, adding that search and rescue operations were continuing in the targeted area. In a separate statement, Ukraine’s air force command said it had shot down 44 missiles and 117 drones launched by Russian forces during the attacks.
On the Russian side, the Defence Ministry said it had destroyed 399 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions during the previous night. The governor of Belgorod region also reported that a girl had been killed and 9 people injured in attacks by Ukrainian forces on the region.
Fire halts Yandex centre in Ryazan
In a development affecting technological infrastructure, Russian technology and artificial intelligence company Yandex said drones targeted one of its data centres in the Ryazan region on Thursday. It said the attack caused a fire and forced it to suspend all operations at the centre, while its teams worked to address the consequences and restore affected services.
Yandex said its core consumer services had not been affected by the attack. The company operates YandexGPT, one of Russia’s prominent generative artificial intelligence models. Yandex Cloud reported problems with electricity supplies in one of its data-centre regions and advised customers to use other regions.
The targeting of the Yandex centre followed a wave of Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres over the past few weeks, while there had previously been no confirmed reports of major Ukrainian drone attacks on data centres inside Russia. Russia began its military offensive against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, while Kyiv has responded with intensive attacks.
Moscow is demanding that Ukraine abandon its efforts to join Western military blocs, a demand Kyiv regards as interference in its affairs. In the fifth year of the war, reciprocal deep strikes targeting vital facilities and energy, food and communications infrastructure are intensifying.
