AFU drones attacked Starobilsk in the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Luhansk region. According to Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-appointed head of the so-called LPR, the strikes hit, among other targets, a college building and a dormitory.
Pasechnik said that 86 students aged 14 to 18 were in the dormitory at the time of the strike. He added that some of them may still be trapped under the rubble, which rescuers had already begun clearing. Those efforts were later suspended several times because of the threat of repeat attacks.
Pasechnik and children’s rights commissioner Yana Lantratova said that 35 people were injured. Lantratova also said that, according to the latest data, four people were killed. Earlier, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry reported one fatality.
Rodion Miroshnik, Russia’s ambassador-at-large at the Foreign Ministry, said that up to 18 people may remain under the rubble. He described the incident as a terrorist attack. The Investigative Committee has already opened a criminal case under that article. According to the agency’s version, the AFU deliberately targeted civilian sites with four fixed-wing drones.
Pasechnik also said that the attack damaged shops, administrative buildings, and private homes in Starobilsk, and that a man was wounded.
At the time of publication, Ukraine had not officially commented on reports of the strike on the college in the Russian-occupied part of Luhansk region.