The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine described as “manipulative” reports from the Russian side that the Ukrainian army carried out attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian territories annexed by the Russian Federation.
The Ukrainian armed forces are striking “military infrastructure and facilities used for military purposes, in strict compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law and the laws and customs of war,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian General Staff admitted that, on the night of May 22, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked “a number of targets of the Russian aggressor.” Among them are an oil refinery, ammunition depots, air defense systems, and command centers, including “one of the headquarters of the Rubicon unit in the Starobelsk city area.”
Rubicon is a secret unit of the Russian Ministry of Defense specializing in drones.
Earlier, the authorities of the Russian-controlled part of the Luhansk region of Ukraine reported that the Ukrainian army attacked on the night of May 22 the educational building and university dormitories of the college in Starobelsk. The self-proclaimed head of the LPR, Leonid Pasichnyk, accused the Ukrainian armed forces of a “targeted strike on sleeping defenseless children.”
Vladimir Putin claims that the raid resulted in the deaths of six people, the injury of 39 others, and the loss of 15 others. He described the attack as a terrorist attack, stressing that there were no military facilities near the college. Independent sources did not confirm or deny his statements. Putin ordered the Ministry of Defense to prepare a response to the attack on Starobelsk.