Russia’s Putin vows retaliation after accusing Ukraine of hitting student dormitory
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation after accusing Ukraine of carrying out a deadly attack on a student dormitory in occupied eastern Ukraine.
Putin said that 6 people died and 39 people were injured in the night attack on the town of Starobilsk in the Luhansk region. 15 more people were missing.
The Ukrainian military said it hit the headquarters of Russia’s elite Rubicon drone military unit in Starobilsk. It was not stated whether the building identified by Russia was the same.
“There are no military facilities, intelligence service facilities or related services in the vicinity,” Putin said in his statement in Moscow.
“Therefore, there is absolutely no basis for claiming that the munitions struck the building as a result of our air defense or electronic warfare systems,” he said at a reception in his Kremlin residence on Friday.
He ordered the Russian army to prepare its “proposals” on how to retaliate.
The Russian leader said that the Ukrainian attack was carried out in three waves using 16 drones.
Russia’s state television stated that one of the injured students was 19-year-old Diana Shovkun.
According to the TV report, he suffered a head injury as a result of being hit by a collapsed concrete slab.
No photos or videos of those Moscow said were killed were shown.
Later Friday, the Ukrainian military said the night attack targeted Rubikon’s headquarters in Starobilsk. He accused fighters in his special drone unit of regularly attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
The statement also stated that Ukrainian forces “damaged military infrastructure and facilities used for military purposes, in strict compliance with the norms of international humanitarian law, the laws and traditions of war.”
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the headquarters of Russia’s security service, the FSB, was hit in Moscow-captured territory in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.
About 100 Russian “invaders” were killed or wounded, he added.
The Moscow military did not comment on the issue. However, a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel reported “casualties” following what it said was a “major drone attack.”
Ukraine has repeatedly accused the Russian military of deliberately targeting civilians since 2022, when Moscow’s full-scale invasion began. Moscow regularly denies this accusation.
Last week Ukrainian officials said: 24 people, including 3 girls, died when a Russian missile destroyed a high-rise residential building in the capital Kiev.
