Ukrainian School In Lugansk Hit By Russian Bombing, Local Governor Fears 60 Dead

The building in Lugansk was hit by a Russian attack. (Wikimedia Commons/National Police of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - As many as 60 people are feared dead in a Russian bombing of a village school in eastern Ukraine's Lugansk region, the regional governor said on Sunday.

Russian troops also continued to shell the Azovstal steel mill, the last stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in the devastated southeastern port city of Mariupol, where soldiers from the Azov regiment vowed to continue fighting.

Lugansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said the school in Bilohorivka, where about 90 people have taken shelter, was hit on Saturday by a Russian bomb that burned the building for four hours.

"Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of them were injured. Sixty people are likely dead," Gaidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app, adding that two bodies had been found. Reuters could not immediately verify his account.

Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Russian forces of targeting civilians in the war. Russia has denied this allegation, saying its military operations in particular did not target civilians.

Separately in Mariupol, the deputy commander of the Azov regiment appealed to the international community to help evacuate wounded soldiers from the sprawling Azovstal steel mill.

"We will continue to fight as long as we are alive to repel the Russian invaders," Captain Sviatoslav Palamar told an online press conference.

In a week-long operation brokered by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), scores of civilians sheltering in the factory's underground shelters have been evacuated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Saturday more than 300 civilians had been rescued and authorities would now focus on efforts to evacuate the injured and medics. Other Ukrainian sources have cited different figures.

Ukrainian police collect the remains of a Russian attack bomb. (Wikimedia Commons/National Police of Ukraine)

Meanwhile, Russia-backed separatists said a total of 145 people, including 24 children, were evacuated on Sunday from Mariupol to the village of Bezimenne, about 40 km (25 miles) east, in the area they controlled.

That number excludes the 182 refugees who had arrived in Bezimenne at the start of the operation, according to figures provided by the separatist group. They said those wishing to go to areas controlled by Ukraine were handed over to representatives of the United Nations and the ICRC.

As for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 230 km (140 miles) northwest of Mariupol, dozens of people who fled the port city and nearby occupied areas, either independently or with the help of volunteers wait to be registered at a parking lot set up to welcome the refugees.

"There are still a lot of people in Mariupol, who want to leave but can't," said history teacher Viktoria Andreyeva, who said she had just arrived in Zaporizhzhia after leaving her bombed home in Mariupol with her family in mid-April.

"The air feels different here, free," he continued in a tent where volunteers offered food, basic necessities, and toys to the new arrivals, many of whom were traveling with small children.