Around 60 people, who were sheltering in a village school in Lugansk in east Ukraine, are feared dead after it was hit by an air strike, the area's regional governor informed on Sunday, 8 May, reported AFP. The incident took place on Saturday.
"Bilogorivka (village) was hit in an airstrike," said Sergii Gaidai.
"The bombs fell on the school, and unfortunately, it was completely destroyed. There were a total of 90 people, 27 were saved," he said on Telegram. "Sixty people who were in the school are very probably dead."
Rescue workers were not able to work overnight owing to the threat of new strikes, however, they resumed their work on Sunday.
Gaidai added that an air strike had also hit a house in the neighbouring village of Shepilivka. Eleven people were sheltering in the basement, and rescuers were looking for survivors there as well.
Putin's focus in Ukraine has gradually shifted to the eastern part of the country after his forces failed to take the capital.
According to intel provided by the United Kingdom defence ministry, Russian forces have retreated from the areas surrounding the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, and have begun to redeploy in the east.
When the invasion was launched on 24 February, Putin sent in his best troops to Ukraine, including the "Spetsnaz" (special operations forces).
But the Russian military failed to defeat its Ukrainian counterpart, despite being larger in size and being overwhelmingly superior.
Ukrainian resistance took the Russians by surprise, the Russian Air Force failed to win the skies, and the military even botched up basic preparations like the logistics of fuel and the movement of supplies.
The horrors of human rights violations loom over the region, especially in cities like Slovyansk and Kramatorsk in northern Donetsk that Russian forces may have already started targeting.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)