Translated material
A college building was attacked in Russian-controlled Starobelsk
In the Russian-occupied city of Starobelsk, Luhansk region, an alleged Ukrainian drone attack caused serious damage to the buildings of a vocational college, in which dozens of people, most of them teenagers, were allegedly present. According to the latest data, about 40 people were injured and some were killed. This was reported by the Russian-appointed authorities of the so-called “LPR”.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and Russian media publish photos and videos showing the dilapidated buildings of the Starobelsky Vocational College, the work of rescuers and the victims.
As follows from the published materials, several buildings were damaged, one of them was almost completely destroyed.
The Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, Yana Lantratova, said that, according to preliminary data, 4 people were killed, and there may still be people under the rubble. 9 people were hospitalized, several of them in serious condition. Lantratova noted that the college belongs to the Lugansk Pedagogical University, where Russian authorities recently held a so-called patriotic forum .
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday evening at a meeting with participants in the Time of Heroes program that the attack on Starobelsk was not accidental. He said that he had heard reports from the heads of several departments about what happened and condemned the attack on the college dormitory, calling it a terrorist attack. Putin rejected claims that the drone hit the college could have been the result of air defense work. He added that there are no military installations near the hostel.
According to him, the death toll from the strike has risen to six people, and another 15 people are missing. He instructed the Ministry of Defense to prepare a proposal to respond to the attack on Starobelsk.
The head of the "LPR" Leonid Pasechnik wrote that there were more than 80 people in the building, mainly children and teenagers aged 14 to 18 years. It is also reported that three people were rescued from the rubble, and there may still be people under the rubble. The Mash Telegram channel writes that local public pages have published messages about the search for missing teenage girls who presumably could have been in the dormitory at the time of the attack.
It is also reported that administrative buildings, shops and private houses in Starobelsk were damaged, and one person was injured outside the college.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine denies the attack on the college dormitory in Starobelsk. A statement from the Ukrainian Armed Forces says that on the night of May 22, “an oil refinery, ammunition depots, air defense systems, command posts and enemy personnel, including one of the headquarters of the Rubicon unit near the city of Starobelsk,” were hit.
The monitoring channel Exilenova+ published photos of destroyed buildings, noting that this was a consequence of “explosions” in the city. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that the Ukrainian military carried out strikes on designated targets in the occupied territories, but did not provide details.
The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case under an article about a terrorist attack; the department claims that the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the help of 4 UAVs, “targeted the administrative buildings and the dormitory of the Starobelsky College (branch) of the Luhansk State Pedagogical University.”
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov also spoke out about the strike, calling it a “monstrous crime.” The Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council.
At a meeting of the UN Security Council, Russian representative Vasily Nebenzya repeated Putin’s theses, calling the attack on the hostel “deliberate, with the goal of maximizing the number of victims.” He stated that this was a war crime.
- Russian strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine regularly kill civilians. Russian representatives either blame Ukraine for their deaths or claim that the facilities were used for military purposes. In particular, Vladimir Putin justified the attack on the institute building in the center of Sumy by the fact that military personnel had gathered there during the attack. The Ukrainian military has also said that Russia is using civilian facilities for military purposes.
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