Dozens feared dead after bomb levels Ukraine school

Russia continues barrage of cities, towns and villages in Ukraine

Zaporizhzhia, May 8: Dozens of Ukrainians were feared dead on Sunday after a Russian bomb destroyed a school sheltering about 90 people in the basement as Moscow’s invading forces kept up their barrage of cities, towns and villages in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The governor of Luhansk province, one of two areas that make up the eastern industrial heartland known as the Donbas, said the school in the village of Bilohorivka caught fire after Saturday’s bombing. Emergency crews found two bodies and rescued 30 people, he said. “Most likely, all 60 people who remain under the rubble are now dead,” Gov. Serhiy Haidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Russian shelling also killed two boys, ages 11 and 14, in the nearby town of Pryvillia, he said.

Since failing to capture Ukraine’s capital, Russia has focused its offensive in the Donbas, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014 and occupy some territory. The largest European

conflict since World War II has developed into a punishing war of attrition due to the Ukrainian military’s unexpectedly effective defence. To demonstate success, the Russian military worked to complete

its conquest of the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has been under relentless assault since the start of the war, in time for Victory Day celebrations on Monday.

A sprawling seaside

steel mill is the only part of the city not under Russian control. All the remaining women, children and older civilians who had been sheltering with Ukrainian fighters in the Azovstal plant were evacuated on Saturday. The troops still inside have refused to surrender. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the focus would turn to extracting the wounded and medics.