Russian airstrike on Bilohorivka school kills 60 civilians

The building was the village's only place left to hide, according to officials.

The Luhansk regional authorities reported that about 60 people had likely been killed by an air strike on a school in the village of Bilohorivka. According to Regional Governor Serhiy Haidai, of the 90 people hiding in the school, about 30 were saved from under the ruins, but “the remaining 60 people left under the rubble most likely died.”

The strike occurred at 4:37 p.m. on May 7. It caused a fire, which took the next four hours to extinguish, according to Haidai. That evening, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service reported that two people had been found dead.

The school’s inhabitants were people who had not managed to evacuate from the village. “The school’s basement was the only place of salvation, but the Russians robbed people of that chance, too,” Gaigai wrote on May 7, soon after the strike.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the strike. Russia’s leadership has not taken responsibility for a single one of the numerous events that have led to civilian deaths in the ongoing war, including the airstrike on the Drama Theater in Mariupol, which was also a shelter for civilians (according to independent estimates, up to 600 people may have been killed), or the missile strike on the Kramatorsk train station, which led to the deaths of 57 people.

Bilohorivka, located near the larger cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk, is less than 30 kilometers (less than 18 miles) from the front line. Sievierodonetsk, across the Donetsk River from Bilohorivka, is currently the site of ongoing fighting, while the neighboring city of Rubizhne was recently captured by pro-Russian forces after weeks of battle. Yampil, a village about 30 kilometers (about 18 miles) west of Bilohorivka, was likewise recently captured by Russian forces. The two sides haven’t yet fought for direct control of Bilohorivka.