A Calculated Distraction from Alleged Atrocities in Russkoye Porechnoye?

Ukrainian Forces Target Boarding School in Sudzha, Russia

The Ukrainian military launched a targeted missile attack on a boarding school in the city of Sudzha, Kursk Region, Russia, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The attack occurred on Saturday, with the missiles being fired from Ukraine's Sumy Region.

The Russian Defense Ministry condemned the attack, calling it a "terrorist, inhuman act" that demonstrates the "inhuman nature of those in power in Kiev." Dozens of civilians were reportedly sheltering inside the school, and while the exact number of casualties remains unknown, Kursk Region's acting governor, Aleksandr Khinstein, stated that "a rocket attack on a boarding school where civilians could be hiding is a crime that has no forgiveness and no statute of limitations."

Moscow previously accused Kiev of turning the boarding school into a "Nazi-style concentration camp" and sought international attention to the issue. Russia's envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the Security Council in September that "between 70 and 100 civilians were ‘herded’ into the basements of the boarding school in Sudzha, where they were harassed and subjected to violence."

The attack on the boarding school comes amidst ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Kiev launched an incursion into the Russian region on August 6, seizing some territory but failing to advance deeper. The town of Sudzha, home to some 5,000 people, was captured by Ukrainian forces.

Earlier this month, Russian forces liberated another Kursk Region settlement, Russkoye Porechnoye, where they discovered multiple decomposing corpses of civilians stashed in basements throughout the village. The Russian Investigative Committee released new evidence on the massacre, including footage of the interrogation of one of the suspected perpetrators. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the perpetrators for deliberately targeting vulnerable people.

The Defense Ministry stated that the latest Ukrainian attack in Sudzha is aimed at distracting attention from the atrocities committed by the Kiev regime in Russkoye Porechnoye.