what we know about the deadly strike on Lysychansk, which Russia attributes to kyiv

Search operations continue in this city in the east of the country which fell into the hands of Russian forces in the summer of 2022 to find victims under the ruins.

The toll is growing by the hour. In Lysychansk, in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine, a strike on a bakery in the town left at least 28 people dead, including a child, Russian emergency services announced on Sunday February 4. According to a pro-Russian official, Ukrainian forces deliberately targeted the trade. A day of mourning was declared on Sunday by the authorities installed by Moscow. Here is what we know about this strike carried out on Saturday while the deadly fighting continues and the bombings have intensified in Ukraine and Russia since the start of winter.

A bakery was targeted

The strike occurred Saturday afternoon on a bakery in Lyssychansk, located in the Luhansk region, 15 km from the front line. Russian forces took control of this city in the summer of 2022, as did its twin city of Severodonetsk, after one of the most brutal battles since the start of the Russian offensive. Before the war, 111,000 people lived in Lysychansk. According to Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed governor of Luhansk, the trade targeted by the strike was very busy. It was indeed known for having fresh bread during the weekends.

The building was one story high. It bore a large sign with the name “Restaurant Adriatic”. After the strike, it appeared completely destroyed, reduced to rubble. “Approximately 65% ​​of the destroyed structure has been dismantled”, said the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations on Sunday on Telegram. The Russian news agency RIA Novosti published a video of a destroyed building, where we also see rescuers pulling a completely crushed car out of the rubble.

The toll is very heavy

Russian emergency services remained working all night to find victims under the ruins of the bakery. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry released a video of rescuers working in the dark, extracting a body from the rubble, before discovering an injured woman being evacuated on a stretcher. A man in a “bad state” was hospitalized in the city of Luhansk, according to pro-Russian authorities.

By Sunday morning, rescuers had rescued 10 people from the rubble, according to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry. “Unfortunately, 28 people, including a child, died”, he also announced. Local health authorities, cited by the Russian news agency Tass, said four survivors were in a “very serious condition” and that 18 men, nine women and one child had been killed.

Russia accuses kyiv

On Telegram, Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed governor of Luhansk, accused Ukrainian forces of having targeted this bakery. The Russian Foreign Ministry further asserted that Western weapons had been used to bomb the place and said it hoped “a rapid and unconditional condemnation” of this attack.

Also on Telegram, Sergei Aksionov, the leader placed by Moscow in annexed Crimea, castigated a “bombing raid” who is “another terrorist act by Ukrainian Nazis.” “These non-humans must answer for everything. On behalf of all Crimeans, I express my deepest and sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the injured. Crimea shares your pain and sorrow “he writes.

kyiv did not react to these accusations, nor did it comment on the strike on the bakery. The Ukrainian General Staff only claimed that the Ukrainian air force had struck “12 areas of enemy concentration” during the day on Saturday. Ukrainian missiles also targeted “a piece of artillery” and another “force concentration zone”, added the Ukrainian general staff, without further details. On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his troops for striking Moscow’s forces deep, “both on land and sea”notably two days after the destruction of a Russian warship off the coast of Crimea.