Putin: 'Six dead and 39 wounded in Ukrainian attack. We will retaliate"

The death toll of a drone attack carried out last night by Ukrainian forces against a student dormitory in the Lugansk region, controlled by the Russians, has risen to six dead, 39 wounded and 15 missing. This was said by President Vladimir Putin, quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency as saying that it was a "terrorist attack" carried out by the "neo-Nazi regime that took power in Kiev".

The attack 'was not accidental, it happened in three waves, with 16 drones, all hitting the same site', the Russian president said, quoted by the agencies. "The reason for the criminal behaviour of the Kiev regime," Putin added, "is clear. It is its continuous failure at the front, the abandonment of positions, of settlements, of territories."

The Russian president called the government in Kiev a "corrupt and illegal junta" and appealed to the Ukrainian military, calling on them not to follow orders from their superiors. "I would like to address once again, as I have already done, the military of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Do not carry out the criminal orders of the illegitimate and corrupt junta,' Putin said. "Otherwise, you yourselves will become accomplices to these crimes." This is the same appeal the Kremlin chief made to Ukrainian forces in 2022, before launching the military operation against Kiev.

Putin added that he had instructed the Defence Ministry to prepare a military retaliation. "We realise that in such cases it is impossible to limit ourselves to the Foreign Ministry's statements," the Kremlin tenant said. "Therefore, the Defence Ministry has been ordered to submit its proposals."