Dozens feared dead as Russians bomb Donbas school sheltering Ukrainians

DOZENS of Ukrainians are feared dead 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,” Governor Serhiy Haidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian shelling also killed two boys, aged 11 and 14, in the nearby town of Pryvillia, he said.

Since failing to capture Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, Russia has focused its offensive in the Donbas, where

Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.

The largest European conflict since the Second World War has developed into a punishing war of attrition due to the Ukrainian military’s unexpectedly effective defence.

To demonstrate success, Moscow was aiming to complete its conquest of the besieged port city of Mariupol in time for Victory Day celebrations today.

Ukrainian leaders have warned that attacks would only worsen in the lead-up to Victory Day, when Russia celebrates Nazi Germany’s defeat in 1945 with military parades.

On Saturday, all the remaining women, children and older civilians who had been sheltering with Ukrainian fighters in a sprawling steel mill that is Mariupol’s lastdefence holdout were evacuated.

Satellite photos shot on Friday show devastation at the vast Azovstal steel mill. The troops still inside have refused to surrender and requested international help to get them out, too.

Capturing Mariupol would give Moscow a land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, annexed from Ukraine during a 2014 invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the focus would turn to extracting the wounded and medics from the steel plant, adding: “Of course, if everyone fulfils the agreements. Of course, if there are no lies.”