Russia blames Ukraine for deadly strike on Kursk boarding school, Air Force evidence suggests otherwise
Russia's Investigative Committee launched a "terrorism" probe on Feb. 2 against the commander of Ukraine's 19th Separate Missile Brigade over a deadly strike on a boarding school being used to shelter civilians in Sudzha, Kursk Oblast, which Ukraine says was carried out by Russia's military.
At least four people were killed and 84 rescued after the attack on the evening of Feb. 1, which the General Staff says was carried out by Russia using a targeted guided aerial bomb strike.
"There is indisputable evidence and objective monitoring results showing that the strike was carried out by Russian tactical aviation," Ukraine's Air Force wrote on Feb. 1, with screenshots published from the Virazh-Tablet system allegedly showing the flight path of the Russian guided aerial bomb.
Russia's Defense Ministry claims that Ukraine carried out a missile attack from Sumy Oblast. It did not provide any evidence.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify either of these claims.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, writing on Feb. 1 that civilians in the residential facility were being evacuated to safety.
Drawing parallels to Russia's 1990s wars in Chechnya that devastated cities and killed tens of thousands of civilians, he said: "Even against their own civilians, the Russian army uses similar tactics."
A series of apartment bombings occurred in cities across Russia during the late 1990s, which the Russian government blamed on Chechen militants and used as a pretext to escalate military action in Chechnya.
In the lead-up to discussions about a potential negotiated ceasefire, Russia is attempting to frame Ukraine as the aggressor, even as it continues to launch daily attacks on Ukrainian cities.
On Jan. 20, Russian state-controlled media claimed that they had discovered the bodies of civilians in the village of Russkoe Porechnoe in Kursk region that were "executed" by Ukraine's Armed Forces.
The original news story, aired on Rossiya 1, didn't specify the number of people killed, and the soldier in the footage only mentions four bodies.
Later, on Jan. 31, Rossiya 1 aired footage of what they claimed was a Ukrainian soldier "confessing" to taking part in the executions, and the number of civilians killed was suddenly listed as 22.
