Ukraine claims Russia hit school for special children with 300 inside

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - The governor of Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv province on Friday claimed that Russian forces targeted a boarding school for special children with psychoneurological difficulties, which had 330 students inside at the time of the attack.

"After a war crime in Mariupol, today the enemy hit the Oskil psychoneurological boarding school," Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram, referring to a school for special children on the outskirts of the Izyum city in Kharkiv Oblast, about 616 kilometers (382 miles) from Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

The boarding school had 330 students at the time of the strike, according to Synyehubov, who added that 73 students were evacuated from the institution near Izyum.

He claimed that 50 children at the school had limited mobility and 10 were wheelchair users, while the number of victims was still being determined.

Ukrainian officials on Wednesday said Russian forces attacked a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Russia’s war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow, and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia. The West has also imposed biting export restrictions on key technologies that are now prohibited from being sent to Russia.

At least 564 civilians have been killed and more than 950 others injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, the UN has said, while also cautioning that conditions on the ground make it difficult to verify the true number.

Over 2.5 million people have fled to neighboring countries, with about 2 million more estimated to be displaced inside Ukraine, according to the UN refugee agency.