Russia has accused Ukraine of killing civilians in a drone strike on a student dormitory.
Vladimir Putin has vowed retaliation after accusing Ukraine of carrying out a deadly overnight attack in the town of Starobilsk in the occupied Luhansk Oblast.
Russian officials said six people were killed, 39 injured and 15 others remained missing after drones struck a student dormitory. Putin claimed the building was a civilian site with no nearby military infrastructure.
Ukraine’s military confirmed it targeted the headquarters of Russia’s elite Rubicon drone unit in Starobilsk but did not say whether the military facility was inside the same building identified by Moscow.
According to Putin, the attack involved three waves of drones and 16 unmanned aircraft. He ordered the Russian military to prepare retaliation plans following the strike.
Ukraine said the operation targeted military infrastructure linked to attacks on Ukrainian civilians and insisted its forces were acting within international humanitarian law.
The strike comes as fighting between Russia and Ukraine continues to intensify more than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Russian officials also reported fresh drone attacks overnight in the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk, where falling debris reportedly triggered a fire at an oil depot and injured two people.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently claimed Ukrainian forces struck an FSB headquarters in occupied Kherson, causing heavy Russian casualties.
Both Russia and Ukraine continue to accuse each other of targeting civilians as the war escalates across multiple regions.