At least four people have reportedly been killed and scores of others, most of them children, injured in a Ukrainian drone strike on a school dormitory in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic.
Officials say four kamikaze drones were used to attack the main academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College, which teaches children aged 14 to 18. Acting Governor Leonid Pasechnik said 86 students were inside the facility at the time of the attack.
Russia’s newly appointed human rights ombudsman, Yana Lantratova, cited preliminary reports as indicating at least four fatalities in the incident. Emergency services reported recovering one body before pausing the operation due to concerns of a new Ukrainian strike.
22 May 2026
The head of Russia’s presidential Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, has sent a letter to UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk, the Russian official’s office has said. Moscow expects the UN to “designate the incident as a war crime by the Kiev regime” and to act to stop such atrocities, the statement read.
Ukrainian drone attacks such as the raid on Starobelsk are largely financed with EU taxpayers’ money, independent Dutch journalist Sonja van den Ende has told RT.
Western military aid to Kiev has been framed by EU and NATO members as a way to strengthen Ukraine’s position in any future peace negotiations. Moscow, however, has argued that continued arms deliveries only prolong the conflict and encourage further cross-border attacks.
Russia has repeatedly floated a ceasefire conditioned on the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from all of Donbass. Kiev has rejected the proposals, stating that no territorial compromises are possible.
Oksana, 22, is one of the people missing after the Starobelsk strikes, her boyfriend has told RT. She was last seen by her sister as she was trying to flee the college dorm following the initial drone attack at around 1 AM local time. She was reportedly struck in the leg with shrapnel and became lost in the chaos. Oksana is an adult student who wants to become a school teacher.
Four people seriously injured in Starobelsk have been airlifted to Republican Clinical Hospital in Lugansk, the region’s health minister, Natalia Pashchenko, has told the media.
Ruptly has filmed ongoing firefighting efforts in the town.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described the incident as a “monstrous crime” for which “the Kiev regime has to be held accountable.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said the silence of Ukraine’s Western backers over such attacks was especially notable given that many of them “routinely take at face value [Vladimir] Zelensky’s fakes about children purportedly abducted by Russia.”
Zakharova was referring to claims by Kiev and some of its Western backers that Russia’s evacuation of children from combat zones was criminal rather than a humanitarian effort. Moscow says it has been working through diplomatic channels to reunite children with relatives in Ukraine and other countries, and insists the scale of such cases has been exaggerated.
The latest casualty count is 39, some of whom are fatalities, Pasechnik has told the media, saying the exact death toll will be available later. He characterized the attacks as “unprecedented” and “inhumane” acts targeting civilians.
Rescue services have released footage of distraught relatives of the victims of the strike. Emergencies Ministry psychologists are helping them deal with the tragedy, the statement said.
“We expect international organizations to react to the deliberate strike on a civilian site where children live and study,” ombudsman Yana Lantratova has said, stressing that the incident can be described as a war crime. She was echoing similar remarks Miroshnik made to the media earlier.
The Starobelsk Professional College, a branch of Lugansk State Pedagogical University, trains older students in a range of blue-collar professions, including welding, electrical work, cooking, and crane operation. According to Rodion Miroshnik, who heads the Russian Foreign Ministry’s mission investigating alleged Ukrainian crimes, the facility can accommodate more than 1,500 students, both minors and young adults.
The rescue operation had to be paused due to the threat of follow-up strikes, the Emergencies Ministry said after reporting that one body was recovered from under the rubble. Lantratova said at least four people were reportedly killed.
Local health officials said eight people injured in the incident are being treated in hospital, adding that three of them are considered to be in a serious condition.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry shared a video showing rescue workers responding to the incident. Footage showed part of the five-story dorm building collapsed to the second floor. Local governor Pasechnik said there were 86 students inside at the time of the attack, which he said injured 35 people.
Russian human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova said an adult worker was with the children at the dorm.
The acting governor of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, has reported a Ukrainian drone strike on a school in Starobelsk, a town located around 80 km north of regional capital Lugansk. The incident was part of a broader raid that damaged civilian infrastructure and private residences, the official said, sharing images of the damage on social media.