Tragedy in Sudzha: Bombed school leaves four dead, many injured
On Saturday evening, a bomb hit a boarding school in Sudzha, located in the Kursk region. Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of the attack. Four people were killed, and four were seriously injured. There were 100 residents from Sudzha in the building, primarily seniors and individuals with disabilities.
Late Saturday afternoon, the Ukrainian military command reported that nearly a hundred people, including many elderly and disabled individuals, were trapped under the rubble after a Russian aerial bomb struck the boarding school in the occupied city of Sudzha, in Russia's Kursk region. Later, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that four people had died.
The Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack.
Attack on the school in Sudzha
According to the General Staff of Ukraine, as of 10:00 PM, debris removal efforts were ongoing, and 84 civilians received medical assistance, with their condition described as stable. Four individuals were in critical condition, and four others died.
The first report of the strike on the building in Sudzha came from Oleksiy Dmytrashkivski, the spokesman of the temporary command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the occupied part of Russia's Kursk region.
"Today, February 1, 2025, at 5:54 PM, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched an attack on a boarding school in the city of Sudzha. 95 people were trapped under the rubble. The cries and screams of people can be heard. I remind you that the majority of them are elderly and bedridden patients. The military command is currently conducting search and rescue operations," said Dmytrashkivski in a recording posted on the Facebook channel "TRO Media".
Later, a separate statement was issued by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, indicating that not only the elderly but also women and children preparing for evacuation were in the building. The Ukrainian command emphasized that the Russian side was aware of their presence at this location. It was also added that the attack was carried out using a guided aerial bomb.
"Activist" also wrote about the aerial attack
Several foreign media outlets noted a post on Telegram by Volodymyr Synelnykov, who describes himself as an "activist from Kursk". Citing an anonymous source at the scene, he also reported the use of an aerial bomb.
The time of the attack he provided matched exactly with the information from Synelnykov—5:54 PM local time. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine indicated 4:54 PM; if this was according to Kyiv time, it would mean the accounts are consistent, noted the Ukrainian section of the BBC.
A few hours after the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video on social media showing a person on a stretcher and a wheelchair in the dark. Part of the video matched content previously released by the General Staff.
"This is how Russia wages war—Sudzha, Kursk region, Russian territory, a boarding school with civilians preparing to evacuate. A Russian aerial bomb. They destroyed the building even though dozens of civilians were there," wrote Zelenskyy.
"This is how Russia waged war against Chechnya decades ago. They killed Syrians the same way. Russian bombs destroy Ukrainian homes the same way. And even against their own civilians, the Russian army uses similar tactics," he added.
Maps and cartographic data confirm the presence of a boarding school in Sudzha.
Russians claim it was HIMARS missiles
Initially, the Russian side did not issue any official statement. Russian pro-government channels and propaganda media began suggesting that the time of the attack coincided with missile threat warnings in the Kursk region and reports of missile launches from the neighboring Sumy region in Ukraine.
Late in the evening, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Ukraine carried out a missile attack from the Sumy region on the city, which itself controls. Russian military channels claim it was a HIMARS missile attack.
They also repeat false rhetoric about "using Western weapons against Russian citizens," supposedly justifying a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
"As always, numerous Russian channels accuse Ukraine of this attack. This time, they won't succeed! Irrefutable evidence and objective surveillance results is confirming that the attack was carried out by Russian tactical aviation. Here are screenshots from the 'Virage-tablet' system showing the flight trajectory of the Russian guided aerial bomb," declared the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian command in Sudzha had previously reported that the Russian civilian population in the area falls victim to Russian shelling, often resulting in fatalities.
source: BBC / TMT / PAP / Astra / Baza
