The death toll from a Ukrainian strike on a college and its dormitory in a Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine has risen to 18, Russian officials said on Saturday (May 23, 2026).
Launched overnight on Thursday to Friday, one of the deadliest Ukrainian drone barrages in months also wounded 42 in Starobilsk, the occupied Lugansk region, with some still remaining under the debris.
The strike has drawn a strong reaction from top Russian officials, with President Vladimir Putin ordering the Army to prepare a response.
Ukraine denied targeting civilians and said it had hit a Russian drone unit stationed in the Starobilsk area.
A destroyed building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following a recent attack in the Luhansk region on May 23, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters
Russia’s Emergency Ministry said that “two more bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. In total: 60 victims, of whom 18 have died.”
Video shared by the ministry showed dozens of rescuers sifting through what remained of a section of the five-storey dormitory building, now reduced to rubble.
Most of those killed and missing were young women born between 2003 and 2008, according to a list of casualties published by the Moscow-backed governor of the Lugansk region, Leonid Pasechnik.
“The region and the entire country share the fate of these people and the pain of their families,” he said on Telegram.
In Russia and on the occupied territories of Ukraine, a college is an equivalent of a vocational school, typically for students aged from 15 to 22 years.
Starobilsk is located about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the front line in eastern Ukraine. It was captured by Russian forces in the early months of the offensive in 2022.
The Lugansk region is almost entirely occupied by Russia, which claims it as its own.
‘Severe punishment’
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday (May 22, 2026) that those responsible would face “inevitable and severe punishment”.
The UN said on Friday (May 23, 2026) it “strongly condemns any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur”, adding it couldn’t verify details due to restricted access to the area.
Ukraine regularly targets Russian-controlled areas of the country with drones, saying the strikes are retaliation for Russian attacks.
Kyiv has recently expanded its drone capabilities and stepped up strikes on conventional Russian territories as well, including residential areas and oil export infrastructure.
The Russian Army said it has repelled 407 Ukrainian drones launched through Friday night (May 22, 2026) to Saturday afternoon (May 23, 2026).
The Ukrainian army said Russia has launched 124 drones overnight, of which 102 were fended off.
Moscow has launched mass barrages of missiles and drones at Ukraine almost daily since the full-scale offensive began in 2022, also hitting infrastructure and causing civilian deaths.
Both countries deny targeting civilians.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded more than 60,000 civilian casualties since 2022, almost 90% of which were in areas controlled by Ukraine.
The conflict, the bloodiest in Europe since World War II, has devastated swathes of land in eastern Ukraine and forced millions to flee.
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