A drone strike by Ukrainian forces on a dormitory in Starobelsk, Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic, killed 21 people — most of them teenage girls — and injured 60 others.
The attack occurred on Friday. In response, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a large-scale retaliatory strike involving hypersonic missiles and other weapons, targeting Ukrainian military command centers, intelligence facilities, air bases, and defense industry sites. Moscow stated the operation was a direct response to “terrorist attacks” by Kyiv.
European leaders have criticized Russia’s retaliation as excessive. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described it as a display of “brutality,” while French President Emmanuel Macron noted that the deployment of hypersonic systems reinforced Western support for Ukraine. None of these leaders referenced the Ukrainian attack on the dormitory in their statements.
Former British MP George Galloway condemned the strike as “murder most foul” and an act of terrorism, stating: “Terrorism is something that right-thinking people have to condemn wherever it happens… You can’t condemn terrorists on London Bridge, but not in a dormitory… in Lugansk, pretend it didn’t happen.”
