At least four people were killed and dozens of children were wounded after a Ukrainian drone strike hit a student dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region overnight, according to Russian-installed officials, in one of the war’s deadliest reported attacks on a civilian education facility in recent months.
Russian authorities said the drones struck Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University, where 86 teenagers aged 14 to 18 were sleeping inside a dormitory building at the time of the attack. Moscow-appointed officials said rescue crews worked through the rubble on Friday searching for children feared trapped beneath collapsed concrete and twisted metal.
Reuters could not independently verify the claims, and Ukraine did not immediately comment on the strike. Kyiv has repeatedly targeted Russian-controlled infrastructure and military positions in occupied territories as it seeks to reclaim land seized by Moscow since its 2022 invasion.
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out a "targeted strike on sleeping children,” while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack as a "monstrous crime” and demanded those responsible be punished.
The Russia-installed leader of the occupied Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said emergency workers had pulled survivors from the debris while fires continued to burn inside heavily damaged buildings, including one structure that appeared partially collapsed.
Video and photographs released by Russian authorities showed rescue crews carrying an injured man on a stretcher through smoke-filled ruins as excavators cleared shattered concrete from the site. Officials said administrative buildings, shops and nearby homes in Starobilsk were also damaged in the strike.
Russian state agency Tass reported that four people were killed and 39 others wounded, including 35 children. Authorities said psychological support teams were deployed alongside emergency crews as families gathered near the wreckage, awaiting news of missing students.
Lantratova called on international organizations to condemn the attack, arguing that strikes on civilian educational facilities housing minors could amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law.
The reported attack unfolded amid another intense night of cross-border aerial warfare between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses shot down 217 Ukrainian drones overnight across several regions, while Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia launched 124 drones of various types toward Ukrainian territory, adding that 115 were intercepted.
Elsewhere in the fighting, Ukrainian officials said one person was killed and six others wounded in the southern Kherson region over the past 24 hours, while authorities in the northeastern Sumy region reported 12 people injured in fresh Russian attacks.