The death toll from a drone strike on a student dorm in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine has risen to 18, with many of the victims young women, Russian officials said yesterday, after a heated UN debate on the incident.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to prepare options for retaliation against Ukraine after Moscow accused Kyiv of what it described as a deliberate drone strike on a teacher training college in the town of Starobilsk.
Ukraine’s military denied responsibility for the attack, saying it had struck an elite drone command unit in the area and that its forces complied with international humanitarian law.
Putin said there were no military facilities in the area.
Reuters was not able to independently verify what happened.
At the scene, a crane was working to remove rubble from a yawning gap in the building.
Inside one shattered classroom, bricks and dust covered rows of student desks with ‘I love English’ written on the wall.
Elsewhere, a stairwell was blocked by debris.
Russia’s state-run news agency RIA reported the death toll had risen to 18, citing the emergency ministry.
Three people remained trapped under the rubble.
Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Russian-installed administration in the region, published a preliminary list containing details of the 21 victims.
They were mainly female and the youngest had just turned 18.
He also published a list of 41 injured, the youngest of whom was 15.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called by Russia, Russia accused Ukraine of war crimes over the incident while Ukraine said it was a baseless claim.
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