Two people have died and another 60 people trapped under rubble are feared dead after Russia bombed a school in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.
About 90 people are said to have been sheltering in the school when Vladimir Putin’s forces shelled the village of Bilohorivka on Saturday afternoon, causing a fire that engulfed the building, Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said.
Mr Gaidai said 30 people had been rescued from the smouldering debris, but it is thought that many remain trapped underneath it.
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“The fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the rubble was cleared, and, unfortunately, the bodies of two people were found,” Mr Gaidai wrote in a Telegram post, adding: “Sixty people were likely to have died under the rubble of buildings.”
He said the bomb was dropped on a building where “almost the whole village was hiding” from Russian attacks.
Mr Gaidai said 11 people were also thought to have been trapped after shelling destroyed a house in the village of Shypilovo.
Responding to the news of the school bombing, foreign secretary Liz Truss accused Vladimir Putin’s forces of war crimes.
She said: “Horrified by Russia’s latest attack on a school in Luhansk, resulting in the deaths of innocent people sheltering from Russian bombardment.”
She said the deliberate targeting of civilians and infrastructure “amounts to war crimes” and “we will ensure Putin’s regime is held accountable”.
Ukraine and western nations have accused the Russian military of committing war crimes by launching indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, including hospitals and schools. The charges have been vehemently rejected by Moscow.
Putin’s war on Ukraine has killed thousands, razed once-bustling cities to the ground and driven 5 million Ukrainians to flee abroad.
The strategic southern port city of Mariupol has been near-flattened by unrelentling Russian attacks.
The bombed-out Azovstal steelworks became the last stronghold of Ukrainian defence forces in the region. An estimated 300 civilians were thought to be sheltering there to make a final stand to prevent a complete takeover of the city.
Rescuers have been working for several days to evacuate civilians from the tunnels beneath the sprawling plant.
A man wearing military uniform stands on top of rubble in Bilohorivka
On Sunday, Ukrainian fighters manning the plant vowed to continue their stand as long as they are alive.
“We will continue to fight as long as we are alive to repel the Russian occupiers,” Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, said.
“We don’t have much time, we are coming under intense shelling,” he said, pleading with the international community to help to evacuate wounded soldiers from the plant.
Illia Samoilenko, an Azov fighter, said they still had weapons, munitions and water, and were prepared to fight as long as they must.
Burning debris is seen in the village of Bilohorivka
Debris next to a partially collapsed building is seen after a school building was hit
