UN voices concern about attack on college in Russia-controlled Luhansk region

UN officials voiced deep concern Friday about reports of a deadly strike on a college dormitory housing students in Russian-occupied Luhansk region.

Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told an emergency UN Security Council meeting that the attack “caused scores of civilian casualties, including children.”

“The human cost of this war reveals a pattern that defies international humanitarian law,” said Wosornu. “Civilians must be protected.”

The attack has reportedly left six dead and dozens injured, including children.

Nearly 16,000 civilians have been killed and more than 44,000 injured in Ukraine since February 2022, according to Wosornu, noting that the actual figures are “most certainly much higher.”

UN Secretary General’s special envoy for children and armed conflict, Vanessa Frazier, said the UN has been “following with concern reports from the Luhansk region of Ukraine under temporary occupation by the Russian Federation.”

She said an overnight attack on a vocational school and dormitory in the town of Starobilsk “killed and injured several people, including children.”

Frazier noted, however, that the UN does not have access to the area and “is not in a position to confirm details of the reported attack.”

She condemned “all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure,” saying the attacks are prohibited under international law.

Addressing the Security Council, Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya accused Ukraine of “deliberately” targeting the dormitory with four drones in a “horrific terrorist attack.”

He said the strike was “deliberate” and “could not have been accidental. Three waves of drones struck the same area.”

Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Andriy Melnyk denied the claims, saying Ukraine's operation on May 22 “exclusively targeted” a Russian oil refinery, which he said was fueling the “Russian war machine.”

He said Russia’s narrative was “profoundly disrespectful” and said Russia launched 124 drones overnight across Ukraine, with most intercepted but several striking multiple locations and causing casualties.

“Such false accusations belong to a textbook, disinformation campaign from Moscow designed to deflect from its own war crimes and manipulate international public opinion,” he said.