Four people have been killed in a missile strike on a boarding school filled with civilians in the Ukrainian-controlled Kursk region of Russia, Ukraine’s military has said.
Kyiv blamed Moscow for the attack, while Russia’s defence ministry said Ukrainian forces were responsible, adding that missiles were launched from Ukraine’s Sumy region.
The school in Sudzha, 7.5 miles from Ukraine’s border, was being used as a shelter for residents – and was largely full of elderly people, according to Ukrainian officials.
“The strike was deliberate. At the time of the strike, dozens of local residents were inside the building, preparing for evacuation,” the military’s general staff said in a statement.
“The Russian side was fully aware that only civilians – local residents, including women and children were in the dormitory.”
Some 84 people were rescued in the alleged Russian glide bomb attack on Saturday afternoon, they added. Some received medical treatment and four were seriously injured.
Military spokesperson Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi said in a video posted on social media that nearly 100 people were still believed to be trapped underneath rubble.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow had bombed the boarding school where civilians were sheltering and preparing to evacuate.
On X, he said of the attack: “They destroyed the building even though dozens of civilians were there.
“This is how Russia waged war against Chechnya decades ago. They killed Syrians the same way. Russian bombs destroy Ukrainian homes the same way.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was interviewed in Kyiv on Saturday. Pic: AP
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The Ukrainian military has held large parts of the Kursk region since it launched a major cross-border offensive into Russia in August.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, at least 12 people are believed to have been killed in Russian attacks on Poltava, in the centre of the country, and Ukrainian forces destroyed 40 out of 55 Russian drones launched overnight.
Firefighters at the scene of a rocket attack on a building in Poltava, Ukraine on Saturday. Pic: AP
Ukraine should ‘hold elections’
In the US, President Donald Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg said Ukraine should hold elections.
“Most democratic nations have elections in their time of war. I think it is important they do so,” Mr Kellogg told Reuters on Saturday.
During the election campaign, Mr Trump said he would “end the war” in Ukraine in just 24 hours – should he get elected.
Both Mr Trump and Mr Kellogg have said they are working on a plan to broker a deal to bring to an end the fighting Russia started in February 2022.
They have offered little detail about the plan, nor any timescale for its implementation.
Mr Kellogg and other White House officials have discussed pushing Ukraine to agree to elections as part of an initial truce with Russia, according to two people with knowledge of those conversations, Reuters also reported.
Donald Trump and Keith Kellogg together in 2017. Pic: AP
Other Eastern European nations that have held elections in recent months and years have seen allegations of interference from Russia.
Mr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has warned that excluding Ukraine from potential ceasefire negotiations with Russia would be “very dangerous”.
“They [Russia and US] may have their own relations, but talking about Ukraine without us – it is dangerous for everyone,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
