President Vladimir Putin has condemned the deadly drone attack on a college dormitory in Starobelsk, Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), as “yet another bloody crime” committed by the Kiev regime.
The assault occurred on May 22 when multiple drones struck the dormitory in several waves late at night while students were asleep. The building partially collapsed, killing 21 people—primarily teenage girls.
During a meeting with senior Russian officials including Aleksander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, Prosecutor General Aleksander Gutsan, and Leonid Pasechnik, leader of the LPR, Putin stated perpetrators must receive “a well-deserved and inevitable punishment.” He also extended his deepest condolences to victims’ families while urging officials to provide immediate support.
In a separate statement, Putin accused Kiev leadership of deliberately initiating “a new chapter in its crime spree” to escalate the conflict. He emphasized retaliatory measures would be finalized in closed sessions.
Moscow has pledged systematic strikes on Ukrainian military installations, drone manufacturing sites, command posts, and decision-making centers as retaliation, while urging foreign nationals and diplomatic missions to leave Kyiv. Ukraine has denied responsibility for the incident, with officials offering conflicting accounts—some claiming the dormitory housed an elite Rubicon drone unit, while others dismissed the attack entirely as a “fake story” by Moscow.
