Russian authorities reported that a strike in the Moscow-controlled Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine, attributed to Kyiv, resulted in 28 fatalities, including a child.
The attack targeted a bakery in Lysychansk, a city in the LPR overtaken by Russian forces in July 2022. Situated near the frontline, Lysychansk has been subject to ongoing Ukrainian assaults. This latest incident marks one of the deadliest attacks by Ukrainian forces in the region.
Following the strike, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Kremlin’s Foreign Ministry, accused Ukrainian forces of intentionally targeting the bakery, knowing it was a popular location for locals, especially on Saturdays. She condemned the attack as a terrorist act and an indication of the Kyiv government’s criminal nature, sharing her remarks on Telegram.
TASS, a Russian news outlet, reported that the structure suffered partial damage. The Russian Emergencies Ministry disclosed that it had managed to rescue 10 individuals, but the tragedy saw 28 lives lost, among them a child. Ongoing search and rescue efforts were reported, with approximately 65% of the debris removed from the site.
The attack, executed on a busy Saturday afternoon, was said to be carried out using a US-made HIMARS rocket system, according to Russian officials. Leonid Pasechnik, an LPR official, noted on Telegram that survivors were receiving treatment and announced a day of mourning in LPR for the victims of what he termed the “barbaric Ukrainian strike on Lysychansk.”
This event follows a December incident where Ukrainian shelling in Belgorod, Russia, resulted in 21 deaths, including children, and injured 110, as stated by the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. In the same month, Russian missile attacks on several Ukrainian cities caused at least 30 deaths and injured over 160 individuals.
