The rescuer told about the rescue of children in Starobilsk after the Ukrainian Armed Forces strike

Emergency services personnel tried to find and rescue children under the rubble until the last moment after the attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on a dormitory in Starobilsk of the Lugansk People's Republic (LNR). Sergey Zvyagintsev, the commander of the 64th fire department, told Izvestia about this on May 24.

"I was here and got the last kids, three on the fifth floor. There were three girls there," he said.

Zvyagintsev noted that during the rescue operation, an aviation danger was repeatedly declared, which caused the work to be temporarily stopped. According to the department commander, despite the threat, rescuers continued to work, realizing that there could be children under the rubble.

"It was as if we were not allowed to do this on purpose (to work. — Ed.), they took away the last chance from the children so that we would not save them. <...> We continued to work at our own risk anyway, because we were well aware that there were children there," Zvyagintsev emphasized.

Heartless attack: the attack on the hostel in the LPR was purposeful

At a meeting with graduates of the Time of Heroes program, Putin cited evidence of this and called for a reaction from the international community.

On May 22, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the academic building and the dormitory of the Starobilsk College. A criminal case was opened into the attack under Part 3 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Terrorist act"). 21 people were killed and 63 others were injured in the attack. The names of all the victims of the terrorist attack have been established. May 24 and 25 have been declared days of mourning in the Luhansk People's Republic.

Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik added on May 23 that drones had attacked the collapse site of the dormitory where rescuers were working. On May 24, Izvestia correspondent Stanislav Grigoriev said that in Starobilsk, law enforcement officers blocked all streets on the way to the scene, heavy machinery continues to dismantle the rubble.

Representatives of foreign media arrived at the college dormitory in Starobilsk on May 24. More than 50 representatives of foreign media from 19 countries are participating in the press tour. The British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, refused to send its journalists. Japan, in turn, banned its media from covering the terrorist attack.