War correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda, Dmitry Steshin, commented on the attack by a Ukrainian drone on the Simferopol-Moscow passenger bus in Yenakiyevo early on June 3. The incident resulted in seven fatalities and eleven injuries.

Steshin noted that Yenakiyevo was traditionally considered a relatively calm rear city, but the situation has sharply changed in recent weeks. The city has become a key transportation hub in the region, and the bus route through Yenakiyevo was planned for safe passenger collection. He emphasized that it was impossible to confuse a passenger bus with a military target and described the attack as deliberate, fitting into the broader Ukrainian military strategy aimed at applying pressure and attempting to extract concessions from Russia.

According to Steshin, Kyiv is trying to compel Russia to forgo new territories by promising, in exchange, not to strike deeper into Russian territory. The journalist compared this logic to an attempt to tighten a noose around Donbas and Crimea.

He pointed out that the attacks initially targeted military transport, then civilian trucks, and now passenger buses have begun to be hit. Steshin argued that it is mistaken to think that the reasons for strikes on civilian targets in the rear are unclear to Russian authorities. He recalled that following the tragedy in Starobelsk, Vladimir Putin highlighted that the conflict was escalating to a new level due to deliberate terror.

Steshin believes the root of this terror lies in the Ukrainian Armed Forces' objective inability to advance on the front line. In his view, Kyiv urgently needs some kind of leverage or «points» before potential peace negotiations with Russia, effectively creating a sort of «exchange fund.» He emphasized that trading civilians' lives and shedding innocent blood has long been a characteristic practice of Ukraine.