Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has confirmed that 60 people sheltering in the Bilohorivka school were killed after the attack by Russian air bombs last weekend.
According to the UN, the school centred in the eastern side of Ukraine in the Luhansk region, had turned into a hotspot for the ongoing fight between Russia and Ukraine last week. The village school was close to the government-held city of Severodonetsk; the school was a shelter with at least 90 people in there.
The United Nations (UN) secretary-general António Guterres said that he was “appalled” by the attack that happened on 7 May last Saturday.
“This attack is yet another reminder that in this war, as in so many other conflicts, it is civilians that pay the highest price,” said secretary-general’s spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in a statement.
Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said he believed that the 30 civilians who managed to escape were outside on the grounds of the building but no chance for those who were stuck under the rubble of the school building.
“Because the building collapsed. Besides, an air bomb is not a missile, its explosions produce high temperatures. That’s why most likely people haven’t survived,” Gaidai told The Guardian.
Gaidai said the surrounding area of Bilohorivka has been under constant shelling, deeming it hard for evacuations to take place.
He further said that the evacuation bus heading to Bilohorivka through the Lysichansk-Bakhmut highway got attacked, and so people could not be picked up from the village.
“The situation will get worse because in order to chase the orcs, our soldiers to have to work at full force. So the shelling from both sides can only get stronger that’s why the evacuation was called,” he said.
Last Saturday, Gaidai said in a post that two young boys aged 11 and 14 years old, were found dead at the residential sector Privíllâ in the village of Pryvole, which is 13km north of the school. Two more girls of age eight and 12 years old, and a 69-year-old woman was injured.
“‘Russian Peace’ takes life in our future – in our children. Evacuate yourselves! Take care of the children! What are you waiting for?”
Photo: Ukraine war etched on faces of wounded, bereaved by Emilio Morenatti available HERE and used under a Creative Commons licence. The photo has not been modified.
