The attack on the college in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic was not accidental, President Vladimir Putin has said.
At least 21 people have been killed in what President Vladimir Putin has described as a deliberate Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on a school dormitory in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic.
The attack on the main academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College was carried out in three waves, with 16 drones launched at the same target by the “neo-Nazi regime in Kiev,” according to Putin.
Governor Leonid Pasechnik said some 86 students were inside the facility at the time of the attack, staged overnight from Thursday to Friday. The incident prompted a large-scale search and rescue effort, with first responders digging through the rubble for nearly two days. The operation was declared concluded late on Saturday, when the bodies of all the victims were recovered from the partially collapsed building.
Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, told an emergency Security Council session that the strike was carried out “deliberately” at night, when the dormitory was full, to maximize the number of casualties.
Key developments:
- Nebenzia accused Western diplomats of “turning a blind eye” to the crimes of the “neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” blasting their statements as “mockery” and “dancing on the bones” of the dead children.
- Moscow expects the international community to condemn the Ukrainian attack, which “cannot be described as anything other than a war crime,” Russia’s newly appointed human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, told RT.
- President Putin said there were no military facilities near the college dormitory, adding that Russia “cannot limit itself to statements in such a situation” and ordering the Defense Ministry to present options for a response.
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- Kiev has called the college a legitimate target, claiming it hosted a Russian drone unit, despite numerous videos from the scene showing injured students and no sign of military activity. At the same time, Ukraine has launched new strikes against Russia, with at least one civilian killed in Bryansk Region and ten drones intercepted near Moscow.
- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the Western media of ignoring the tragedy, saying the BBC refused to travel to Starobelsk, which she called “proof of the West’s deliberate lies.” She also claimed that Japanese journalists were barred from covering the incident.
- Zakharova added that Moscow is arranging a visit to the site for foreign correspondents accredited in Russia, noting that “a large number” have already expressed interest.
