- Russia launched a massive drone and missile strike on Ukraine, killing 21 students in a college dormitory in Russian-controlled Starobelsk.
- Russia and Ukraine traded accusations at the UN Security Council over the attack, with Western nations refusing to condemn the strike.
- Russian President Putin ordered retaliation, leading to hundreds of drones and missiles striking Kiev, killing four and wounding more than 60.
- The attack involved three waves of 16 drones targeting students as they fled, according to Russian officials.
- The UN condemned the attack, noting over 3,400 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since 2022.
A devastating drone strike on a college dormitory in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Starobelsk has killed 21 students and wounded 44 others, triggering a furious diplomatic battle at the United Nations where Russia and Ukraine traded accusations while Western nations refused to condemn the attack. The May 22 strike on the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University came in three waves of drone attacks, with Russian authorities claiming Ukrainian forces deliberately targeted the building as students fled.
Competing narratives at the United Nations
At an emergency UN Security Council meeting, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia described the attack as a “cynical act of terrorism” that cannot be justified, comparing Kiev’s actions to atrocities committed by Nazi Germany. Nebenzia told the council that 51 civilians had been killed by Ukrainian forces over the past week, with 199 others injured, including 20 children.
Ukrainian representative Andrey Melnik dismissed the “so-called incident” in Starobelsk as “a fake story,” accusing Russia of spreading “yet another propaganda narrative.” Western nations declined to condemn the strike, with U.S. deputy envoy Tammy Bruce instead condemning Russian retaliatory strikes on Kiev as “obscene and unacceptable.”
The human toll in Starobelsk
The dormitory housed at least 86 adolescents aged between 14 and 18, according to UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, who spoke at the Security Council in the early stages of the incident when casualty figures were still emerging. By the time search operations concluded, the final death toll stood at 21, with 44 others wounded. Chaiban called the attack “yet another example of children paying the price for a war that is not of their own making.”
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Yana Lantratova, described the attack in chilling detail outside the wrecked building. “Three waves of UAVs (drones) 10-15 minutes apart,” Lantratova told journalists. “Sixteen UAVs in total. They waited for the children to run out. They fired directly at the children.”
Moscow promises retaliation
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to prepare options for retaliation, denying that any military facilities existed near the university. “Therefore, there is absolutely no basis for claiming that the munitions struck the building as a result of our air defence or electronic warfare systems,” Putin said.
Within 24 hours, Russia struck Kiev and surrounding areas with hundreds of drones and missiles in one of the largest attacks on the city since the war began, killing four people and wounding more than 60. The strike included the firing of a Russian Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which hit the city of Bila Tserkva south of Kiev.
Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations at the UN relief coordination office OCHA, told Security Council ambassadors: “The situation is still unfolding and there is much we do not yet know. But what we do know is that the human cost of this war reveals a pattern that defies international humanitarian law. Civilians must be protected.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the organization “strongly condemns” any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, noting that “such attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and must end immediately.”
The cycle of escalation continues
The Starobelsk attack represents just one flashpoint in a war that has seen both sides increasingly rely on drone warfare. According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia deployed around 600 drones and 90 missiles in its retaliatory strike on Kiev, making it one of the largest attacks on the capital since the war began. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted most of the drones and more than half of the missiles.
The fog of war in Starobelsk may never fully lift. Reuters reported from the site on a media facility trip organized by the Russian Foreign Ministry but could not independently verify what happened. Ukraine’s military denied targeting civilians, saying it had struck the headquarters of an elite drone unit known as Rubicon in the area.
What remains clear is that civilians continue to pay the highest price. As the UN noted, verified data shows more than 3,400 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. The UN’s Vanessa Frazier said she had been following reports from Luhansk with concern, while UNHCR reported that a warehouse it leases in Dnipro was struck by a Russian missile, destroying emergency shelter materials intended for displaced civilians.
As the diplomatic battle grinds on in New York, the civilians caught in the middle — students, families, and the displaced — continue to bear the consequences.
Sources for this article include:
RT.com
Reuters.com
BBC.com
DW.com
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