60 feared dead in Russian bombing of village school in Ukraine’s Luhansk

A village school in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk was bombed by Russia and 60 people “are very probably dead”, according to the regional governor.

Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian forces dropped a bomb on Saturday afternoon (May 7) on the school in Bilohorivka where about 90 people were sheltering, causing a fire that engulfed the building, Reuters reported on Sunday.

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“Bilohorivka (village) was hit in an air strike. The bombs fell on the school and unfortunately it was completely destroyed. There were a total of 90 people, 27 were saved. Sixty people who were in the school are very probably dead,” Gaidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“The fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the rubble was cleared, and, unfortunately, the bodies of two people were found,” Gaidai added. “Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Sixty people were likely to have died under the rubble of buildings.”

Ukrainian actor-turned-politician Serhiy Prytula too tweeted about the casualties and posted a picture of the damaged building.

“Russians dropped a bomb on a school in #Bilohorivka. 60 civilians dead. One more proof of russian conscious policy to eliminate the people of Ukraine. One more war crime adds to atrocities happening now in #Mariupol, Popasna &more. No russian crimes will be forgotten or forgiven,” Prytula tweeted.

Russians dropped a bomb on a school in #Bilohorivka. 60 civilians dead. One more proof of russian conscious policy to eliminate the people of Ukraine. One more war crime adds to atrocities happening now in #Mariupol, Popasna &more.
No russian crimes will be forgotten or forgiven pic.twitter.com/aFlr3aHRYq

— Serhiy Prytula (@serhiyprytula) May 8, 2022

Meanwhile, in his address to the nation on the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation (May 8), Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said “in two months of occupation, Russia killed 20,000.”

On May 7, he said that more than 300 people were evacuated from Azovstal. “I am grateful to the teams of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations for helping us carry out the first phase of the Azovstal evacuation mission. More than 300 people were saved – women and children. Virtually, we evacuated civilians from Azovstal.”

Zelensky said Russians had so far destroyed 200 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine.

“Last night, the Russian army fired a missile to destroy the Hryhorii Skovoroda Museum in the Kharkiv region. A missile. To destroy the museum. Museum of the philosopher and poet who lived in the XVIII century. Who taught people what a true Christian attitude to life is and how a person can get to know himself. Well, it seems that this is a terrible danger for modern Russia – museums, the Christian attitude to life and people’s self-knowledge.

“As of May 7, the Russian army destroyed or damaged nearly 200 cultural heritage sites already,” he said.