Four people were killed and 35 others injured in Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Luhansk region following a Ukrainian drone strike on Starobilsk College of Pedagogical University, including a dormitory, Russia’s commissioner for human rights said on Telegram.
“We expect international organisations to respond to the deliberate attack on a civilian facility where children study and live,” Yana Lantratova said.
Three people have been pulled from under the rubble, according to a statement by the emergency situations ministry on Russia's social media platform Max.
“There are still children buried under the rubble, and the search continues,” Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed head of the Luhansk region, said on Max, adding that 86 children were inside the buildings during the strike.
Administrative buildings, shops and private homes were also damaged in Starobilsk, he added.
“A man was injured in one of them and received medical care,” Pasechnik noted.
Pasechnik said emergency services remained at the scene, providing assistance, including psychological support.
Separately, Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Telegram that its forces shot down and destroyed 217 Ukrainian drones overnight across the country.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s General Staff claimed on Telegram that Russia launched 124 drones of various types, 115 of which were intercepted.
One person was killed and six others injured in Ukraine’s Kherson region over the past 24 hours, the regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.
Some 12 people were injured in Ukraine’s Sumy region over the past day as a result of Russia’s attack, regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported on Telegram.
The claims could not be independently verified.
Zelenskyy says Ukrainian forces struck targets linked to Russia’s Yaroslavl oil refinery
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Kiev carried out overnight strikes on targets linked to Russia’s Yaroslavl oil refinery, located about 700 kilometres from Ukraine and earlier described by him as a facility of "great importance for financing Russia’s war.”
Zelenskyy said the strikes also targeted sites in “temporarily occupied” areas of Ukraine, adding: “We are bringing the war back home — to Russia — and that’s only fair."
According to Zelenskyy, Russian losses since the beginning of the year have exceeded 145,000 personnel, including nearly 86,000 killed, at least 59,000 “seriously wounded” and more than 800 service members taken prisoner.
He said Kiev was preparing “other forms” of long-range sanctions and midrange strikes in response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and communities.
“In the border areas of the Sumy region, we are achieving designated objectives,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “We continue destroying Russian personnel and the occupiers’ equipment in other sectors as well.”
