Liz Truss 'horrified’ after Russia bombs Ukrainian school

Sixty people feared dead after the school in the Luhansk region of Ukraine caught fire

The wreckage after a school building was hit by Russian shelling in the village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk, Ukraine, May 8, 2022. Luhansk Regional Military-Civil Administration/Handout via Reuters

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British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she was ‘horrified’ on Sunday after a Russian bomb hit a Ukrainian school where 90 people were sheltering.

Around 60 people are feared dead after the school in Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine was bombed and caught fire on Saturday. Only 30 people were saved.

The foreign secretary said that Vladimir Putin’s regime in Moscow would be held to account for the ‘war crime’.

“Horrified by Russia’s latest attack on a school in Luhansk, resulting in the deaths of innocent people sheltering from Russian bombardment," Ms Truss tweeted.

She said the deliberate targeting of civilians and infrastructure “amounts to war crimes” and “we will ensure Mr Putin’s regime is held accountable”.

Her comments came as G7 leaders, including Boris Johnson and Joe Biden, held talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mr Johnson told his counterparts “the world must go further and faster to support Ukraine” against the Kremlin’s invading forces.

“The prime minister said there was a savage irony that the leaders had gathered to discuss Putin’s barbaric invasion on a day when they should be remembering the sacrifice of Russian soldiers defeating fascism in the Second World War," a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

“He agreed with G7 leaders that the world must intensify economic pressure on Putin in any way possible, and said the West must not allow the war to turn into a stalemate that only magnified suffering.

“Ukraine needed to receive military equipment that allowed them to not only hold ground in Ukraine, but also recapture it, the prime minister told the leaders.”

The G7 agreed more needed to be done to support Ukraine’s agricultural exports, with the war affecting food supplies around the world.

Mr Johnson also urged G7 countries to intensify diplomatic lobbying of countries which were failing to apply pressure on Moscow, “especially as it was clear grossly unjustifiable human rights abuses and war crimes were being committed”, the spokeswoman added.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence suggested Russian forces were struggling because of the high casualty rate among Moscow’s commanders.

“Difficulties in command and control, as well as faltering Russian performance on the front line, have drawn senior commanders on to the battlefield, likely to take personal leadership of operations,” a defence intelligence update said.

This has put them at risk of being attacked, with “disproportionately high losses of Russian officers in this conflict”.

“This has resulted in a force that is slow to respond to setbacks and unable to alter its approach on the battlefield,” the update said.

“These issues are likely to endure given the relative lack of operational command experience of the officers promoted in place of those killed.”

An injured Ukrainian service member sits at a field hospital inside Azovstal steel works in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting in Kyiv with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra. Reuters

Ukrainian servicemen study a Swedish shoulder-launched weapon system during a training session near Kharkiv. AP Photo

Russian emergency personnel clear debris inside Mariupol's drama theatre. AFP

Ukrainian servicemen study a map near Kharkiv. EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an online meeting with the Saratov region's acting governor, Roman Busargin, in Moscow. AP

Belgian soldiers take part in a Nato military exercise near Munster, Germany. Getty

Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova, left, speaks with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, right, during her visit to mass graves in Bucha, Ukraine. EPA

A guard of honour stands at attention during the funerals of Sgt Olexandr Moisenko and Sergiy Turpetko in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty

Plumes of smoke rise above the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol amid Russian shelling. AFP

US President Joe Biden signs into law a measure making it easier for Washington to send weapons and supplies to the government in Kyiv. Bloomberg

A Ukrainian soldier fires with a mortar, in the Kharkiv region. Reuters

The Eiffel Tower is lit up in blue and yellow, the national colours of Ukraine, to express solidarity with its people at the request of the French Presidency of the EU, in Paris. Reuters

A Ukrainian Army tank drives over an infantryman during a training exercise near Kryvyi Rih. Getty Images

A Ukrainian soldier rests in his room at a front-line field hospital near Popasna, Luhansk region. EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Memorial to Hero Cities at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the Victory Day military parade in Moscow. EPA

Ukrainian refugees from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol are seen in a bus as they arrive at a humanitarian aid centre for internally displaced people, in Zaporizhzhia. Reuters

A hotel complex destroyed by a Russian missile is pictured in Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters

Maksym, 3, is photographed with his brother, Dmytro, 16, on top of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

A video of a press conference from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol by Azov regiment servicemen Illia Samoilenko, right, and Sviatoslav Palamar, seen on a computer screen in Kyiv. EPA

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy take part in a online meeting of G7 leaders in Kyiv. Reuters

US first lady Jill Biden greets Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, outside a public school in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Reuters

Irish singer and activist Bono, the lead vocalist of rock band U2, performs at a subway station that has been turned into a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AFP

A boy looks out of a bus window as people evacuated from Mariupol arrive in Zaporizhzhia. AFP

A night-vision image shows fire on Ukraine's Zmiinyi Island. Reuters

Women sing the Ukrainian national anthem below the Euro Monument during a demonstration in Frankfurt, Germany. AP

Emergency personnel at a school building hit by shelling, in the village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk. Reuters

A man plays piano in an abandoned photo studio in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine. AFP

A man and his son wait for an evacuation bus in Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine. AFP

Volunteers deliver food supplies to residents, taken from the warehouse of a humanitarian aid distribution centre in Severodonetsk. AFP

An unexploded ordnance on a road in Severodonetsk. AFP

Galina Abdurashikova, 65, has been staying in an abondoned car in front of her apartment since her room was destroyed by shelling five days ago, in Severodonetsk. AFP

A large hole at the site where a missile strike hit a residential area in Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Reuters

A man searches for useful items inside his house after a missile strike in a residential area, in Bakhmut. Reuters

Two men look at the damage after a missile struck a cement plant, in Bakhmut. Reuters

Civilians attempting to leave Mariupol wait in line at a checkpoint near the temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenoye village. EPA

Civilians who were evacuated from Azovstal, walk in the temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenoye village, near Mariupol. EPA

A cyclist photographs the destroyed bridge over the Irpin river, in Irpin. Getty Images

A residential area destroyed by Russian shelling, in Irpin. Reuters

People with their luggage walk to a station to wait for the evacuation train heading to the west of Ukraine, in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region. EPA

A volunteer shapes metal plates at a factory producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP

Workers clean shattered glass and debris in front of a residential building next to a site of a Russian missile attack in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa. AFP

A Ukrainian Army tank moves towards a fron-tline position in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Getty Images

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A child stands on a destroyed Russian tank near Makariv, Kyiv region. Reuters

A Ukrainian national guard soldier mans a fighting position near the front line in Zelenodolsk. Getty Images

Museum workers carry the sculpture of Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorri Skovoroda from the destroyed building of the Hryhoriy Skovoroda National Literary Memorial Museum in the village of Skovorodynivka, in Kharkiv Region. AFP

US officials claimed two major Russian tank factories had ground to a halt because of the impact of economic sanctions.

The UK has pledged an extra £1.3 billion ($1.6bn) in military support to Ukraine, in a dramatic escalation of assistance for Mr Zelenskyy’s forces as they fight the Russian invasion.

It is the highest rate of UK military spending on a conflict since the height of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The £1.3bn, drawn from the UK’s reserves, includes £300 million ($370m) of military kit promised by Mr Johnson earlier this week. The kit includes anti-battery radar systems to attack Russian artillery, GPS jamming equipment and night-vision devices.

The prime minister will host a meeting of arms companies later this month to discuss increasing production in response to the demand created by the conflict in Ukraine.

Officials said the announcement would help to support the British arms industry, which could benefit from the global shift away from reliance on equipment from sanctions-hit Russia.

“Putin’s brutal attack is not only causing untold devastation in Ukraine, but it is also threatening peace and security across Europe," said the prime minister.

“The UK was the first country to recognise the scale of the threat and send arms to help the Ukrainians defend themselves.

“We will stand by that endeavour, working with our allies to ensure Ukraine can continue to push back the Russian invasion and survive as a free and democratic country.

“In the process, we are bolstering our own security and economy, turbocharging the development and production of cutting-edge defence equipment here in the UK.”