Putin vows revenge after Ukraine attack kills at least 6, injures dozens on student compound
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered his military to prepare for retaliatory measures against Ukraine after it accused Kyiv of carrying out a deadly drone attack on a student residence that it said killed six people and injured scores of young people, 15 of whom are still unaccounted for.
Putin said the attack targeted a sleeper in Starrobilsk, in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. He said the soldiers in Kyiv must have known what they were aiming for.
“There are no military facilities, intelligence services or related facilities in the area. Therefore, there is absolutely no basis to say that the weapons hit the building because of our air defense systems or electronic warfare. This strike was not a mistake; it came in three waves, with 16 drones targeting the same area,” Putin told the officials.
The Russian military has been ordered to take steps to get Moscow to retaliate, he said.
Reuters could not independently confirm what happened. Ukraine wants to retake Luhansk, one of four eastern regions that Moscow claimed as its own in 2022 in what Kyiv has denounced as an illegal land grab.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week promised punishment after laying red roses on the rubble of a Kyiv building where a Russian missile killed 24 people, including three children.
But on Friday, the Ukrainian military in a statement denied Russian allegations that it attacked the student building as “treason.”
The statement emphasized that Ukraine complies with international humanitarian law, and for four years, both sides have denied intentionally targeting civilians in the conflict.
'Horrible crime'
Yana Lantratova, Russia's human rights commissioner, said 86 youths aged 14 to 18 were sleeping inside a hostel at Luhansk Pedagogical University's Starobilsk College when Ukrainian planes attacked them overnight.
Leonid Pasechnik, a senior official stationed in Russia in Luhansk, said two people had been pulled from the rubble, while Maria Lvova-Belova, the president's commissioner for children's rights, said about 18 children were still trapped.
Some children being treated at the hospital were reported to be in critical condition, said Lvova-Belova.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called for those involved to be punished. “This is a horrible crime. An attack on an educational institution where there are children and young people,” he told the media.
Moscow said the United Nations Security Council would hold an emergency session in New York later Friday to discuss the incident.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the Ukrainian strike destroyed the top three floors of the five-story hostel.
“We call on international organizations, national governments and the global community to seriously investigate … and strongly condemn the bloody terrorist attack,” the statement said.
Photos and videos released by Russian authorities showed rescue workers pulling one man out on a stretcher from the rubble, heavily damaged buildings – one of which appeared to have partially collapsed – and fires still burning.
