At least six people were reported killed and 39 wounded after drones struck a college dormitory in Starobilsk, a town in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, according to Russian officials. Fifteen people remained unaccounted for as rescuers searched the collapsed building on the event date.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the strike a deliberate attack on civilians and instructed the Defense Ministry to prepare options for retaliation. He said students were asleep when the building was hit and asserted that no military or security facilities were nearby. Those claims could not be independently verified from the supplied evidence.
Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Russian-installed regional administration, said drones struck an academic building and dormitory at Starobilsk Professional College. He said 86 students aged 14 to 18 were present. Images released by his administration appeared to show broken windows and fire in the building, while Russia's Investigative Committee said the five-storey structure had collapsed as far as its second floor.
In subsequent reporting, Ukraine's military disputed Moscow's account. It said its forces had struck a drone command unit in Starobilsk and described Russian statements about the incident as manipulation. Ukraine, which says it does not target civilians, did not provide evidence in the supplied reports that independently established the location of the alleged command unit or explained the damage to the dormitory.
The two accounts therefore differed on both the intended target and the nature of the site. Russia said the college was a civilian location with no military facilities nearby. In its subsequent account, Ukraine said the operation hit a military drone-control target. Neither version could be independently resolved using the available source material.
Starobilsk lies about 65 kilometers from the front line and has been under Russian control since the early phase of Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. The region is in eastern Ukraine but was almost entirely under Russian control.
The casualty figures also changed after the event date as teams continued clearing rubble. ABC Australia later reported that Pasechnik raised the toll to 10 dead and 48 injured, with 11 people still missing. Those later figures should not be treated as information confirmed on May 22; they represent a subsequent update from the same Russian-installed authority.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the attack a serious crime, while Russia's Foreign Ministry promised punishment for those responsible. Putin did not specify what form a response might take.
The wider war has repeatedly produced sharply conflicting accounts of strikes in occupied territory. Both sides use drones across and behind the front line, and civilian harm is often reported before independent investigators can reach a site. In this case, the supplied AFP and ABC reports both relied substantially on Russian officials for casualty and site details, while also recording Ukraine's subsequent competing account.
As of the event date, the most supportable account was therefore limited: Russian-installed authorities reported six dead, 39 wounded and 15 missing after damage to a college dormitory; Putin blamed Ukraine and ordered retaliation options; and, in subsequent reporting, Ukraine said it had attacked a drone command unit rather than intentionally targeting civilians. The later rise in casualties underscored that the initial toll was provisional, but it did not settle the dispute over what was targeted.
