The attack on the college dorm is yet another “bloody crime” committed by the Kiev regime, Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated.

All perpetrators behind the deadly drone attack on the college dorm in the Russian town of Starobelsk must suffer a “well-deserved and inevitable punishment,” Putin declared.

The attack occurred on May 22 in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), when multiple drones hit a dormitory in several waves late at night while students were sleeping inside. The building partially collapsed, claiming the lives of 21 people — mainly teenage girls.

On Monday, President Putin held a meeting with senior officials including Aleksander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee; Prosecutor General Aleksander Gutsan; and Leonid Pasechnik, head of the LPR. The discussion centered on the investigation into the massacre and measures to support those injured and families of the deceased.

Putin strongly condemned the attack, stating that perpetrators “must receive the punishment they deserve, and it will be inevitable.” He also offered his “deepest condolences to the families” affected by the Starobelsk massacre while urging officials to “treat every person and every family facing this tragedy with the utmost care.”

“The Kiev leadership has decided to open a new chapter in its crime spree, to add a new dimension to the conflict as a whole,” Putin said. “Well, it was their choice to make,” he added, noting that retaliatory measures would be discussed during the closed-door segment of the meeting.

In the aftermath of the Starobelsk strike, Moscow pledged to conduct “systematic and consistent strikes” on Kiev’s military installations, drone manufacturing sites, command posts, and “decision-making centers” in retaliation. It also urged foreign nationals and diplomatic missions to withdraw from Kyiv.

Kiev has denied responsibility for the incident, with officials providing conflicting accounts: some claim the dorm was a command post of the elite Rubicon drone unit, while others dismiss the attack as a “fake story” by Moscow.