Putin Orders Retaliatory Action After Deadly Drone Strike On Hostel In Luhansk

Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed the country’s military to prepare retaliatory measures following a deadly drone strike on a student hostel in Starobilsk, in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine.

Putin said the attack killed six people, injured several others, and left about 15 persons missing as of Friday.

In a statement aired on Russian state television, the Russian leader accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting the dormitory, insisting there were no military or intelligence facilities in the vicinity.

“There are no military facilities, intelligence service facilities, or related services in the vicinity. Therefore, there is no basis for claims that the building was hit due to our air defence or electronic warfare systems. The strike was deliberate and carried out in three waves, with 16 drones aimed at the same location,” Putin said.

He added that the Russian military had been instructed to develop response options for Moscow.

Ukraine, however, 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.

The war between Russia and Ukraine has continued to produce conflicting accounts, with both sides regularly accusing each other of targeting civilians while denying intentional attacks on non-military sites.

Ukraine has repeatedly vowed to retake Luhansk, one of four eastern regions annexed by Russia in 2022, a move Kyiv and its Western allies have condemned as illegal.

Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, said 86 teenagers aged between 14 and 18 were asleep inside the hostel at the time of the attack, which occurred at Luhansk Pedagogical University’s Starobilsk College.

Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed leader in Luhansk, said rescue teams had pulled two people alive from the rubble.

Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, said up to 18 children could still be trapped beneath the debris, adding that some of the injured were in critical condition.