Sixty dead in Ukrainian school bombed by Russia, says governor

kyiv, May 8 (Reuters) – Some 60 people were feared dead in the Russian shelling of a school in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, the regional governor said on Sunday.

Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian forces dropped a bomb on Saturday afternoon at the school in Bilohorivka where some 90 people were sheltering, sparking a fire that engulfed the building.

“The fire was extinguished after almost four hours, then the rubble was removed and unfortunately the bodies of two people were found,” Gaidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Sixty people are likely to have died under the rubble of the buildings.”

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russian forces of targeting civilians in the war, which Moscow denies.

In the dilapidated port city of Mariupol in the country’s southeast, dozens of civilians have been evacuated from a sprawling steel plant in a week-long operation brokered by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a speech on Saturday night that more than 300 civilians had been rescued from the Azovstal steelworks and authorities would now focus on trying to evacuate the wounded and doctors. Other Ukrainian sources have cited different figures.

Russian-backed separatists reported on Saturday that a total of 176 civilians had been evacuated from the plant.

The Azovstal plant is the last holdout for Ukrainian forces in the now largely Russian-controlled city, and many civilians have also taken refuge in its underground bunkers. It has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian effort to capture swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the invasion he launched on February 24 a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of Western-sponsored anti-Russian nationalism. Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an unprovoked war.

Mariupol is key to blocking Ukrainian exports and linking the Crimean peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014, and parts of the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions that have been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since that year.

In an emotional speech Sunday for Victory Day, when Europe commemorates Germany’s formal surrender to the Allies in World War II, Zelenskiy said evil had returned to Ukraine with the Russian invasion, but his country would prevail. read more

US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders were to hold a video call with Zelenskiy on Sunday in a show of unity ahead of Monday’s Victory Day celebrations in Russia.

Underscoring Western support for Ukraine, Britain has pledged to provide an additional 1.3 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in military aid and support, double its previous spending commitments.

Victory Day is a major event in Russia and Putin will preside over a parade of troops, tanks, rockets and ICBMs on Monday in Moscow’s Red Square, showcasing military might even as his forces fight in Ukraine.

His speech could offer clues to the future of the war. Russia’s efforts have been hampered by logistical and equipment problems and high casualties in the face of fierce resistance. read more

The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, said on Saturday that Putin was convinced that “doubling down” on the conflict would improve the outcome for Russia.

“He’s in a frame of mind where he doesn’t think he can afford to lose,” Burns told a Financial Times event in Washington on Saturday.

Reporting by Pavel Polityuk at the kyiv and Reuters offices Writing by Michael Perry and Estelle Shirbon Editing by William Mallard and Frances Kerry

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