Russia says 16 killed in strike on student dorm that it blamed on Ukraine • FRANCE 24 English

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]struck a student dormitory in the early hours of Friday morning in the town of Starobilsk in Luhansk, a Russian-controlled region in eastern Ukraine.

[00:00:08]Several people were killed and dozens of others were wounded.

[00:00:12]Russian authorities reported that 86 teenagers were in the dorm.

[00:00:18]Those poor kids from the school from the dorm, they ran to us and hid in our building's entrance, where we helped them.

[00:00:27]They were so scared.

[00:00:30]The Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to prepare options to retaliate. In a statement aired by Russian state television, he said, "Kyiv's military must have known what it was targeting."

[00:00:46]There are no military facilities, special services facilities, or related facilities near the accommodation.

[00:00:57]Ukraine's military denied Russian accusations that it had targeted civilians and said it had hit a Russian military unit's headquarters around Starobilsk.

[00:01:07]The attack comes as the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says diplomatic efforts should be reinvigorated.

[00:01:12]He says the front line situation is favorable with Moscow's forces losing ground.

[00:01:18]Since the beginning of the year, 590 km of our territory have been liberated and are now under our control.

[00:01:25]This trend is certainly not in the occupier's interest. We continue to increase the number of Russian soldiers we've eliminated.

[00:01:33]Peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv have currently stalled after several recent rounds of US-mediated talks.