 | This article needs to beupdated. The reason given is: add information about how some politicians/analysts considered this a potential "false flag" by Russian forces. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2023) |
| Stanytsia Luhanska kindergarten bombing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of thePrelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
 Ukraine | Russian backed separatists | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| 3 wounded | |||||
TheStanytsia Luhanska kindergarten bombing was an event directly preceding the2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] It was shelling of a kindergarten inStanytsia Luhanska on 17 February 2022 which injured three people, and left half the town without electricity.[1] It was performed by separatists shortly before the invasion.[2]
On 17 February 2022, a mortar shell landed in a kindergarten inStanytsia Luhanska,Luhansk Oblast,Ukraine. TheLuhansk People's Republic (Sergey Kozlov) accusedUkraine of using mortars, grenade launchers, rocketeers or/and a machine gun along its contact line, possibly near Stanytsia Luhanska.[8] Ukrainian sources claimedLPR andRussian positions fired from somewhere nearMykolaivka orLuhansk towards Stanytsia Luhanska.[6][9][10] This was during theprelude before theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[11]
On February 26, the settlement wasoccupied byRussian Ground Forces as part of the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[12]
Josep Borrell, theHigh Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of theEuropean Union (EU), stated that "such indiscriminate shelling of civilian infrastructures is totally unacceptable and represents a clear violation of the cease-fire and the Minsk agreements". Borrell also expressed the EU's support for Ukraine's internationally recognized borders and called for unrestricted access for theOSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine in the whole of the territory of Ukraine, including Russian-occupied areas.[13]
TheEmbassy of the United States in Kyiv called the attack a "heinous Russian violation of the Minsk Agreements" which demonstrated "Russia's disregard for Ukrainian civilians on both sides of the line of contact". The embassy also stated that "The aggressor in Donbas is clear - Russia".[14]
