BBC News Briefing

8 October, 2026

Roland has ginger hair and a ginger beard and is wearing a white shirt. He is wearing glasses with a black frame.

Roland Hughes

Hello. We have a report from Ukraine after another deadly attack on civilians. The first Atlantic hurricane of the season is approaching the US - we've got the latest. And the Tree of the Year has been chosen in the UK... and it's a weird one.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Two buses, an apartment block - Ukraine's civilians suffer under Russian assault

The burning metal shell of a bus in Kramatorsk. Flames can be seen inside the bus with black smoke coming out, with debris strewn across the road

At least 30 people were killed as buses were destroyed on Thursday. Credit: Prosecutor General's Office

As Russia steps up its wave of deadly attacks in Ukraine, civilians are increasingly paying the price. According to the UN, Ukraine saw more civilians killed by August this year than in all of 2025. Thursday saw another such attack: in the eastern front-line city of Kramatorsk, a Russian glide bomb assault on two buses killed at least 30 people. This comes a day after a five-storey block of flats in Pryluky, east of Kyiv, was hit, killing 22 people in the early hours. "Once again, the Russians have struck a location where there are absolutely no military targets," Kramatorsk's city council said.

Get the latest

GET UP TO SPEED

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NEWS FROM THE UK

Brighton deaths: Three sisters from London who died in the sea all took their own lives, a coroner has said.

Airbase arrest: Two Latvian men have been detained after a fence was breached at an RAF base.

Simon Pegg: The Mission: Impossible actor says he's been diagnosed with ADHD, adding that it "confirmed a lot of stuff".

AT THE SCENE

Jerusalem

The Gazans who still face Israeli strikes despite the ceasefire

A man in his 30s sits with five children - two girls and three boys - inside a tent

Fida al-Toutah's family say they witnessed her being killed by Israeli gunfire in their tent two weeks ago

More than 1,400 people in Gaza have been killed in Israeli attacks since a ceasefire began on 10 October last year, says Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. One of them was mother-of-five Fida al-Toutah, 31. Israel blocks international journalists from going in to Gaza to report freely - this report was compiled in Jerusalem with the help of journalists in Gaza.

Yogita Limaye, International correspondent

In her tent in central Gaza early one morning last month, Fida was combing her daughter's hair when the sound of gunfire erupted. Her son Ezz says he only realised Fida had been hit when he saw the bloodied hands of his younger brother, who had been clinging onto his mother as the bullets came in.

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Even during the ceasefire, Israel has continued launching strikes in Gaza almost every day. "It [the ceasefire] is all lies," said Ahed, Fida's husband. "Every day there is killing and death lurking around."

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When asked about Fida's killing, the Israel Defense Forces told the BBC they had no record of the incident. Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives, and accuses Hamas of continued violations of the ceasefire.