The Ukrainian military and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces had struck a boarding school in the Ukrainian-occupied Russian region of Kursk, killing at least four of “their own citizens” and injuring dozens as the civilian death toll continues to mount in the war.
The attack late on February 1 came hours after Kyiv reported that at least 10 people had been killed in a Russian attack on a residential area in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava.
"Russian aviation struck a boarding school in the town of Sudzha, Kursk region, with a guided aerial bomb. The strike was carried out on purpose," the Ukrainian General Staff said.
Unconfirmed reports indicated many of the victims were elderly people being temporarily housed in the building.
"At the time of the attack, dozens of local residents were inside the building preparing to evacuate. Everything possible is being done to rescue the survivors," the General Staff said, adding that at least 84 civilians “were rescued and provided with medical aid."
Zelenskyy wrote on X that "this is how Russia wages war -- Sudzha, Kursk region, Russian territory, a boarding school with civilians preparing to evacuate."
"A Russian aerial bomb. They destroyed the building even though dozens of civilians were there...Russian bombs destroy Ukrainian homes the same way. And even against their own civilians, the Russian army uses similar tactics.”
Russia's Defense Ministry later claimed that Ukrainian forces had carried out the attack.
"On February 1, the Ukrainian Armed Forces committed another war crime by launching a targeted missile strike on a boarding school in the city of Sudzha," a ministry statement said.
The claims could not independently be verified.
Ukraine in August seized a chunk of Russian territory in Kursk region as part of a successful surprise attack. After giving up nearly half those gains since then, Ukraine has recently launched a small-scale offensive in the region to take back territory.
Russian forces have utilized many of the estimated 11,000 North Korean troops deployed by Pyongyang to fight alongside the Kremlin’s forces in the Kursk region, although they have sufferied heavy losses, according to Western and Ukrainian officials.
Earlier, Ukrainian authorities said at least 10 people had been killed on a Russian attack on a residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava
Images from AFP showed firefighters searching through the ruins of a building at the site.
"God saved us," Olena Svyryd, a resident of a neighboring building, told AFP.
"Opposite us on the fifth floor, a woman, my friend, was taken out. No, she's not alive. She was crushed by the wall. There were a lot of casualties," she said.
The United Nations on February 1 condemned a Russian air strike on the historic center of the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa. Buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage list were damaged and at least seven people were injured.
Deadly Russian air strikes were also reported in the large Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy.
Fear And Hope As Battle For Ukraine’s Pokrovsk Looms
Also on February 1, the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces reported 134 combat encounters over the previous 24 hours.
According to Ukraine's Energy Ministry, Russia has launched more than 1,000 strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities since October 2022. In 2024 alone, nine gigawatts of generating capacity were reportedly lost due to the strikes, amounting to roughly half of Ukraine's peak winter demand.