Over 60 Feared Dead After Russian Strike On School In East Ukraine

Sixty persons have been feared killed after a Russian air raid on a school in eastern Ukraine.

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai said two people have been confirmed dead after Russian forces dropped a bomb on the school, and 30 civilians had been pulled from the debris, Aljazeera reports.

According to Haidai, about 90 people were sheltering in the school in the village of Bilohorivka and a fire following Saturday’s attack engulfed the building.

He wrote on Telegram, “The fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the rubble was cleared and, unfortunately, the bodies of two people were found.

“Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Sixty people were likely to have died under the rubble of buildings.”
The tension between the neighbours has been bubbling for a while.

The protracted conflict first brewed over in 2014 after the widespread Euromaidan protest in Ukraine forced the parliament to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office.

The removal of Yanukovych, who was regarded as pro-Russia, vexed the leadership in Moscow, and they thought the best way to strike back was to reclaim Ukraine’s region of Crimea, which used to be under Russia’s control from 1783 to 1954.

To end the bloody crisis, an agreement was hammered out in Minsk, Belarus, in February 2015.

The resolution tagged the ‘Minsk agreement’ was monitored by United Nations, and it proposed a cease-fire with all parties signing to power down their machinery of war.

Despite a ceasefire agreement, both parties have not been at peace, and the Russia-backed rebels have claimed further swathes of land in the east of Ukraine.