Putin Orders Retaliatory Measures After Drone Strike Kills Six at Student Dorm in Starobilsk

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to prepare retaliatory measures after a drone strike on a student dormitory in Starobilsk, in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, which he said killed six people and left about 15 missing as of Friday.

“Russia has expressed outrage as it reported that a Ukrainian drone attack killed at least six people in the occupied Luhansk region”

Al Jazeera

Putin said the attack was deliberate and that there were “no military facilities, intelligence service facilities, or related services in the vicinity,” adding that the strike “came in three waves, with 16 drones aimed at the same location.”

Al Jazeera

Ukraine denied the allegation, saying its forces targeted an elite Russian drone command unit operating in the area and insisted its operations complied with international humanitarian law.

Russia’s human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova said 86 teenagers aged between 14 and 18 were asleep inside the hostel belonging to Luhansk Pedagogical University’s Starobilsk College at the time of the attack, while Leonid Pasechnik said rescue teams pulled two people alive from the rubble.

Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, said up to 18 children could still be trapped beneath the debris, as the BBC reported Putin also said six people were killed and 39 injured in the overnight strike in Starobilsk.

The dispute over what was hit and why remained central as Putin accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting the dormitory, while Ukraine said it struck Rubicon’s headquarters in Starobilsk and denied responsibility for any attack on the student housing.

Putin told officials, “There are no military facilities, intelligence service facilities, or related services in the vicinity,” and he said “The strike was not accidental; it came in three waves, with 16 drones targeting the same location.”

BBC

Ukraine’s military said its overnight strike targeted “the headquarters of Russia's elite Rubicon drone military unit in Starobilsk,” and it added that Ukrainian forces “are causing damage to military infrastructure and facilities used for military purposes, strictly adhering to the norms of international humanitarian law.”

In Russia’s account, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called for punishment, saying, “This is a monstrous crime. An attack on an educational institution where children and young people are present,” while Al Jazeera reported Russia described the incident as a “monstrous crime” and called it a “terrorist strike.”

A local resident, Lyubov Yakovlevna, told Reuters she heard a “shock wave” through her apartment and said she was “afraid, I was shaking, it was really terrifying,” describing fires after drones struck the dormitory.

As Russia and Ukraine traded accusations, Moscow said the United Nations Security Council would hold an emergency session in New York later on Friday to discuss the incident, while Putin ordered his military to prepare “proposals” on how to retaliate.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered his military ‌to prepare options to retaliate against Ukraine after he accused Kyiv of carrying out a deadly drone attack on a student dorm that he said killed six and wounded dozens of young people, with 15 still unaccounted for”

CBC

The BBC reported Putin ordered the Russian military to prepare its “proposals” on how to retaliate, and it also noted that Russia’s state-run TV identified an injured student as Diana Shovkun, aged 19, after a collapsing concrete slab.

In Russia’s official framing, the Foreign Ministry said the Ukrainian strike “pulverised the top three of the hostel's five floors,” and it urged international condemnation of what it called a “bloody terrorist attack.”

Al Jazeera added that Yulia Shapovalova said rescuers were pulling out injured children and bodies “despite a repeated threat of more UAV attacks,” while it described the attack as one on a “civilian facility where children study and live.”

The immediate stakes for civilians and children were underscored by the competing casualty figures, with Putin’s side citing six killed and 39 injured while Al Jazeera correspondents at three local hospitals counted at least 41 deaths, and the Russian-installed officials said rescue operations were continuing with fears that more victims could still be trapped under the rubble.