Peskov: Putin gave military orders following the strike on Starobilsk in advance

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Vladimir Putin had already given the Russian Armed Forces the necessary instructions in connection with the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strike on a college in Starobilsk.

This was reported by TASS.

The question to Peskov was asked in the context of a meeting held on June 1 — following the investigation into what happened in Starobilsk. Journalists asked whether the president had issued new instructions to the military after the meeting.

“The instructions were given earlier,” the Kremlin spokesman replied.

In the early hours of May 22, the dormitory and academic building of the Starobilsk Pedagogical College in the LPR came under attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to the Russian side, 21 people were killed.

On May 25, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced that the Russian Armed Forces had moved to systematic strikes on defense industry enterprises in Kyiv as a retaliatory measure for Ukraine’s actions.

At the June 1 meeting, Putin stated that with these gravest crimes against children, “the Kyiv leadership decided to open a new page in the series of its crimes, to give a new quality to the conflict as a whole.” The president added: “That is their choice.”