Russia said on Sunday that Ukraine killed at least 28 people, including nine women and a child, when its armed forces struck a bakery and restaurant in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine with Western-supplied rockets.
Russian-backed officials said that Ukraine struck the bakery in the city of Lysychansk at about 1230 GMT on Saturday with U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
“The armed forces of Ukraine opened fire on a bakery in Lysychansk,” said Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed head of the Luhansk region which is now controlled by Russian forces.
Pasechnik said the bakery was crowded with civilians when it was struck. Russia’s emergency ministry said 10 people had been pulled from the rubble alive.
But the ministry said four more people were in an “extremely grave condition” and that it was still searching for people.
Russia took control of swathes of eastern Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion in February 2022, triggering the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two.
Russia now controls around 18% of its neighbour – and considers the land it holds part of Russia. Ukraine and the West say they will never accept the annexation of that territory.
