World

Russia says four dead, 35 hurt in Ukraine attack on Luhansk student dorm

By Reuters Reuters

Updated May 22, 2026 11:31 AM

Rescuers work amid debris of a destroyed dormitory building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Pavel Klimov — Rescuers work amid debris of a destroyed dormitory building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Pavel Klimov Pavel Klimov Reuters

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MOSCOW - Russian officials said at least four people had been killed and 35 children wounded in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on a student dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine.

Reuters was not able to verify what happened independently and there was no comment on Friday from Ukraine, which wants to recapture Luhansk, one of four eastern regions that Moscow unilaterally claimed as its own in 2022 in what Kyiv denounced as an illegal land grab.

Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.

Yana Lantratova, Russia's human rights commissioner, said that 86 teenagers aged 14 to 18 had been asleep inside the hostel belonging to Luhansk Pedagogical University's Starobilsk college when Ukrainian drones attacked it during the night.

Leonid Pasechnik, the top Russian-installed official in Luhansk, said two people had been pulled from the rubble and Maria Lvova-Belova, presidential commissioner for children's rights, said 18 children could still be trapped.

Some children being treated in hospital were reported to be in a serious condition.

KREMLIN CALLS ATTACK 'MONSTROUS'

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called for those responsible to be punished.

"This is a monstrous crime. An attack on an educational institution where children and young people are present," he told reporters.

Moscow said the U.N. Security Council would hold an emergency session in New York later on Friday to discuss the incident.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the Ukrainian strike had pulverised the top three of the hostel's five floors. It said there were no military facilities nearby and that Ukraine must have known what it was attacking:

"We call on international organisations, national governments and the global community to give an honest assessment ... and to strongly condemn the bloody terrorist attack."

Photographs and video released by the Russian authorities showed rescue workers stretchering one man out of the rubble, severely damaged buildings - one of which appeared to have partially collapsed - and fires still burning.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week promised retribution after laying red roses at the rubble of a Kyiv apartment building where a Russian missile strike had killed 24 people, including three children.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

A destroyed building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Russian-controlled parts of the Luhansk Region/Handout via REUTERS — A destroyed building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Russian-controlled parts of the Luhansk Region/Handout via REUTERS Leonid Pasechnik Reuters

Rescuers work at the scene near a destroyed dormitory building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Russian-controlled parts of the Luhansk Region/Handout via REUTERS — Rescuers work at the scene near a destroyed dormitory building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Russian-controlled parts of the Luhansk Region/Handout via REUTERS Leonid Pasechnik Reuters

SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Rescuers pull an injured person from the rubble of a destroyed dormitory building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026, in this still image taken from video. Russian Emergencies Ministry in Lugansk Region/Handout via REUTERS — SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Rescuers pull an injured person from the rubble of a destroyed dormitory building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026, in this still image taken from video. Russian Emergencies Ministry in Lugansk Region/Handout via REUTERS Russian Emergencies Ministry Reuters

Rescuers work amid debris of a destroyed dormitory building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026, in this still image taken from video. Russian Emergencies Ministry in Lugansk Region/Handout via REUTERS — Rescuers work amid debris of a destroyed dormitory building of the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University following an overnight attack, what Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian drone strike, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the town of Starobilsk (Starobelsk) in the Luhansk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, May 22, 2026, in this still image taken from video. Russian Emergencies Ministry in Lugansk Region/Handout via REUTERS Russian Emergencies Ministry Reuters

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 10:50 AM.