Vladimir Putin contrasted foreign broadcasters' silence over Kiev's killing of Russian students with their extensive coverage of Moscow's response

Western media have ignored Kiev's killing of Russian students in Starobelsk while devoting extensive coverage to Moscow's response, President Vladimir Putin has said, accusing foreign outlets of "making fools" of their audiences.  

Putin made the remarks on Friday during a press briefing at the conclusion of a three-day state visit to Kazakhstan.  

Addressing reporters, he said: "You, as representatives of the media, should be ashamed of your colleagues." 

"Not a single word about the tragedy in Starobelsk. Not a single word about children being killed. About our children being deliberately targeted and killed. Not a word at all, as if they do not exist," Putin said. 

"What is that? Is that a mass media outlet? No. It is a tool for making fools of people," he added.  

Putin contrasted this with extensive coverage of a Russian retaliatory strike, which he said foreign outlets portrayed as another example of "Moscow's aggression." 

Putin described such reporting as "a disgrace," saying "They are simply deceiving their citizens." 

Last week, Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck Starobelsk Professional College in Russia's Lugansk People's Republic in three waves, hitting the main building and student dormitories. Twenty-one people were killed, most of them teenage girls studying to become teachers; another 65 were injured in what officials described as a double-tap strike that also targeted first responders. 

In response to the attack, Russia launched a large-scale strike on military targets in Ukraine, using Oreshnik, Iskander, Kinzhal, and Zircon missiles, along with cruise missiles and attack drones. The Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted Ukrainian military command facilities, air bases, and defense industry enterprises, adding that no attacks were conducted against civilian infrastructure. 

Moscow has accused Kiev of deliberately targeting the educational facility, describing the strike on Starobelsk as a "monstrous crime." Russia's UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, said Western governments were once again "turning a blind eye" to the crimes of the "neo-Nazi Kiev regime" and engaging in "blatant mockery of child victims." 

Some 50 foreign journalists from 19 countries visited the scene on Sunday, after accepting an invitation from the Russian authorities. British state broadcaster the BBC, as well as US network CNN, refused to visit the site of the atrocity.