60 killed in Russian attack on school in Luhansk

60 killed in school bombing in Luhansk region. NATO Secretary General urges Putin to immediately end Ukraine war. Guterres condemns attacks on civilians. Attacks on Mariupol intensify.

A Russian airstrike on a school in the Luhansk region has killed dozens of people, Ukrainian officials say. The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haiday, said it was likely that 60 people were still trapped under the rubble of the building.

The Russian airstrike occurred on Saturday, May 7. 90 people were taking shelter in the school in the village of Belovhorivka. The school building caught fire and collapsed after the bombing. The regional governor said rescue workers had rescued 30 people. Belovhorivka is a village 10 kilometers west of Lysychansk, where heavy fighting is ongoing between Ukrainian forces, the Russian army and pro-Russian separatists.

Following the news of the killing of a group of civilians in Luhansk, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once again condemned the massacre in a statement and warned that "civilians and civilian infrastructure must not be targeted in war."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine on “Victory Day over Hitler’s Germany.” He told German newspaper Die Welt on Monday, May 9, that he once again called on the Russian president to “end this war immediately, withdraw his troops from Ukraine and start peace talks.”

Stoltenberg stressed: "We stand firmly with Ukraine and will help it defend its right to defend itself." Stoltenberg said he expected Putin to "again spread lies about NATO and the West" on that day.

A convoy of civilians evacuated from the Uzvestal plant in the besieged city of Mariupol has arrived in Zaporizhia. A total of 600 people have been able to leave the city in the past 10 days, but the UN says there are still many civilians in Mariupol who have not been able to leave.

Source: DW