Western officials have condemned Russian retaliatory strikes on Kiev, while omitting to mention the Friday drone attack that killed 21 people
The European Union’s top brass and the leaders of several member states have issued statements on the latest exchange of strikes between Kiev and Moscow that ignore the recent deadly Ukrainian attack on a college dormitory that preceded Russian retaliatory strikes.
According to the Russian authorities, 21 people, mostly teenage girls, lost their lives and 60 more sustained injuries after three waves of Ukrainian drones targeted the main academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College in the Lugansk People’s Republic overnight from Thursday to Friday.
The Russian military responded early on Sunday by conducting a “massive strike” against military targets in Ukraine, including in Kiev, that featured the intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system, Iskander ballistic missiles, Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, among other strike capabilities. The Russian Defense Ministry has reported that Ukrainian military command and control facilities, air bases, as well as defense industry enterprises were struck.
In a post on X on Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Moscow of displaying “brutality and disregard for both human life and peace negotiations.” She went on to claim that the Russian military had targeted Ukrainian civilians – an allegation Moscow has rejected.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has similarly spoken of a “political scare-tactic” on the part of Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron, in turn, has vowed to double down on backing the Ukrainian leadership, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz denouncing “this reckless escalation.” However, none of the said EU leaders mentioned the deadly Ukrainian UAV attack on the college dormitory in Starobelsk that served as the cause of Moscow’s retaliation.
Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, previously accused Western diplomats of “turning a blind eye” to the crimes of the “neo-Nazi Kiev regime.”
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that the BBC and CNN rejected Moscow’s invitation to visit the site of the attack, while Tokyo explicitly banned Japanese reporters from making the trip.
