Russian drone strike kills two on bus in Kherson, wounds seven

A Russian drone strike tore through a bus in Kherson early Saturday, killing two people and injuring seven, in an attack that turned a routine commute into a scene of civilian carnage. Oleksandr Prokudin, the regional governor, said most of the casualties were public utilities workers heading to work. Images he posted showed the bus with its windows blown out and a body on the floor.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said the attack was part of a “systemic policy of terror against the civilian population.” The strike landed in a city that has become one of the clearest symbols of how the war now reaches far beyond the front line. Kherson was the only Ukrainian regional capital seized by Russian forces in the 2022 full-scale invasion before Ukrainian troops retook it later that year, but it has since faced frequent drone and artillery attacks from across the Dnipro River.

Hours after the first hit, another Russian drone struck a second minibus in Kherson, wounding the driver. The repeated targeting of small vehicles, transport crews and municipal workers has made daily movement in the city newly precarious, with ordinary trips to work carrying the risk of sudden death or maiming. Ukrainian officials and human rights groups have said the pattern is not random but part of a sustained campaign against people living and working near the frontline.

The overnight assault also reached the Odesa region, where port infrastructure was damaged and two people were wounded in Odesa. Ukrainian port authorities and emergency services said a warehouse and nearby buildings were hit in the port area, with apartment fires and damage to berthing and storage facilities contained. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 142 of 163 long-range drones launched by Russia overnight, a reminder of the scale of the aerial pressure facing Ukrainian defenses.

The Kherson bus attack fits findings by human rights investigators who have warned for months that civilians in the city are being deliberately targeted. Human Rights Watch said in June 2025 that Russian drone attacks in Kherson appear deliberate and are aimed at civilians near the front line. In May 2025, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that Russian drone attacks against civilians in Kherson Province amount to crimes against humanity of murder. For Kherson, the war has become a daily test of whether a bus stop, a commute or a work shift can still be treated as ordinary.