“16 drones targeting the same place”: at least six dead and 15 missing in a Ukrainian strike on a high school in occupied territory

At least six people were killed, dozens of others injured and 15 are missing after a Ukrainian drone strike on a high school in the Luhansk region, occupied by Russia in eastern Ukraine, Russian authorities said on Friday, denouncing a “monstrous crime”.

Since the start of the Russian offensive in February 2022, thousands of civilians have been killed on both sides of the front and the bombings continue daily, in a context of virtual military stalemate.

“No military site”

According to Russian officials, 86 youths aged 14 to 18 were in a multi-story dormitory that collapsed following an overnight attack in Starobelsk, a town of about 16,000 in an area conquered by Russia.

“At present, we know that six people lost their lives, 39 were injured and 15 are missing, as the clearance of the rubble continues,” President Vladimir Putin said after a minute of silence broadcast on television.

According to him, this attack “was not accidental” and took place “in three waves, with 16 drones targeting the same place”.

“No military site, nor any site belonging to the secret services or related services” was located nearby, he said, promising a response from his army.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, spoke of a “targeted attack against the civilian population” and denounced the assistance of Westerners who “provide intelligence to the Ukrainian armed forces and help them target their strikes”.

“Monstrous crime”

The governor of the Lugansk region, Leonid Passechnik, installed by Moscow, had previously posted photos on social networks of seriously damaged buildings: one on fire and partially collapsed and the other with charred walls and broken windows.

“It is a monstrous crime (…) by the kyiv regime,” reacted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov during a press briefing in which AFP participated. “Those responsible must be punished,” he added.

Russia has called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. GMT (Editor’s note: 10 p.m. French time).

Discussions on a diplomatic outcome at a standstill

For its part, Ukraine, which regularly targets Russia and the occupied territories in retaliation for the daily bombings to which it has been subject since the start of the Russian offensive in February 2022, says it targeted a military target in the occupied zone and denies having attacked civilians.

Drone attacks on each side of the front have greatly increased in strength since last year, with kyiv and Moscow now capable of sending hundreds of these devices at the adversary every night.

Last weekend, one of the most massive Ukrainian strikes on Russia since the start of the war left four people dead. It came two days after 24 people died in kyiv, where a Russian missile leveled an entire section of an apartment building.

Discussions on a diplomatic outcome in this conflict have stalled since the start of the war in the Middle East, after several sessions of American-mediated talks which failed to produce substantial progress.

At the beginning of May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped American negotiators would come to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

The Kremlin, for its part, recently repeated that real peace talks with kyiv were impossible until the Ukrainian army had left the Donbass, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that Moscow has set itself the objective of conquering.