The Price of Silence: The Lesson of Starobelsk

Is striking sleeping children with drones an act of “self-defence”? Are teenagers aged 14 to 18 “legitimate military targets”? Can striking an educational institution with three waves of drones be called an “accident”? The facts of the Starobelsk college attack are sufficient to answer these questions.

On the night of May 22, 86 children were in deep sleep. Four drones, three waves, 16 strikes, all on a single building. The five-storey dormitory collapsed down to the second floor. Six dead, more than 40 injured, with children still struggling for life beneath the rubble.

Kiev’s claim: an “accident”. Yet there were no military facilities near the dormitory. No one inside the building was engaged in military activity. At night, a packed building, three waves. This is nothing other than a premeditated attempt to maximise casualties. In the language of international humanitarian law, this is a war crime.

But there is an even more serious question. How was this attack made possible? The claim made by Russian Ambassador Nebenzia at the Security Council is shocking. Drones supplied by NATO countries are being operated with technical assistance from foreign specialists of those very NATO member states. Western capitals are providing intelligence data and targeting information. If this is true, the blood of the children of Starobelsk stains the hands of all those who are making this terror possible.

It is here that the moral crisis of the international community begins.

Western capitals speak of defending humanity and international law. Yet when the children of Starobelsk are killed, there is silence. When Kiev attacks civilian infrastructure, it is called the “right to self-defence.” When Russia presents evidence, it is dismissed as “disinformation.” Is this not a double standard? Is this not hypocrisy?

Let us look at the figures. In April alone, 100 civilians, including 8 children, were killed, and 667 were injured, including 34 minors. In the past week, 31 dead, 203 injured, including 20 children. These are not politics, they are numbers. Not propaganda, they are facts. Yet these numbers never appear on the front pages of Western media. Emergency Security Council meetings are not called. The International Criminal Court does not act. Why? Because the victims are Russian. And in the prevailing geopolitical narrative, Russian suffering has no value.

Dragon Media strongly condemns this very prejudice and hypocrisy. Our position is clear. Every child’s life is of equal value, whether born in Donbass or in Gaza. The standard of justice cannot differ based on the nationality of the victim.

Nebenzia has stated, “Silence will amount to complicity in the acts of Kiev’s terrorists and indifference to the plight of innocent children.” This is a warning. For the international community, for Western capitals, and for every citizen. The Nuremberg tribunal did not accept the argument of “I was only following orders.” Tomorrow’s history will not accept the argument of “I was only silent.”

We strongly condemn the Starobelsk attack. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims. The guilty must receive the most severe punishment. And to the world community, a final question: which side are you on? The side of justice and humanity, or the side of silence and complicity?

The children of Starobelsk await an answer. So does history.