Putin accuses Ukraine of a “terrorist” attack on a school in Luhansk that left 6 dead and dozens injured. “It wasn't an accident”
Russia called for the UN Security Council after a Ukrainian drone attack on a vocational school in the city of Starobilsk in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region left at least six dead and dozens injured.
Video source: Facebook/Al Jazeera
Russia requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, May 22, following a drone attack on an educational complex in the city of Starobilsk, in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region.
According to the authorities in Moscow, the attack would have targeted a vocational school and its dormitory, and the provisional balance indicates at least six people killed and dozens injured.
At the time of the attack, there were students and teachers in the building, according to the leader of the self-proclaimed separatist administration in Luhansk, Leonid Pasecinik, who stated that most of those present were young people between the ages of 14 and 18, which amplified the reactions from Moscow.
The intervention of the rescue teams continued throughout the day, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations announcing that the rescuers were looking for survivors among the rubble, as the building was badly damaged, notes the international press.
For his part, Vladimir Putin publicly confirmed the toll of six dead, without specifying the identity of the victims, in a meeting with military officials. He also qualified the attack as a deliberate action against a civilian target and accused Ukraine, stating that he ordered the army to prepare response options.
“This hit was no accident,” Putin said, adding that the incident would confirm, in his opinion, “the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime”.
In addition to the political statements, Russian judicial authorities opened a criminal investigation, initially claiming that four drones were launched at the target, while the Russian president later advanced a higher figure of 16 drones involved in the attack.
The Russian Foreign Ministry sent the official request to the UN Security Council, accusing Ukraine and its supporters of contributing to the escalation of the conflict and blocking diplomatic efforts to de-escalate.
“By committing this atrocity against the children of Starobelsk, the Kiev regime and its sponsors bear full responsibility for the escalation of hostilities and for sabotaging political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict,” it is shown in the cited document.
Moscow claims that the Luhansk region, along with other occupied Ukrainian territories, was annexed following referendums held in 2022, the results of which are not recognized internationally.
Ukraine has not commented on the incident and accusations, but on Friday it announced that it had carried out a drone attack on the Slavneft refinery in the Yaroslavl region of Russia, stating that the facility had been targeted previously.
