UPDATE 1-Death toll in student dorm strike rises to 12, emergency ministry says

‌The death ​toll from a drone strike on a student dorm in ‌the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine has risen to 12, Russia's state-run news agency RIA reported ‌on Saturday citing the emergency ministry. Russia on ‌Friday accused Ukraine of what it described as a deliberate drone strike in the town of Starobilsk, with ⁠Russian President ​Vladimir ⁠Putin on Friday ordering his military to prepare options for ⁠retaliation.

‌The death ​toll from a drone strike on a student dorm in ‌the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine has risen to 12, Russia's state-run news agency RIA reported ‌on Saturday citing the emergency ministry.

Russia on ‌Friday accused Ukraine of what it described as a deliberate drone strike in the town of Starobilsk, with ⁠Russian President ​Vladimir ⁠Putin on Friday ordering his military to prepare options for ⁠retaliation. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Russian-installed administration in the ​region, published a preliminary list containing details of ⁠11 victims, most of them 19-year-old girls.

Nine people remained ⁠trapped ​under the rubble, state-run news agency TASS said. Ukraine's military denied responsibility for the attack, saying ⁠it had struck an elite drone command unit ⁠in the ⁠area and that its forces complied with international humanitarian law.