The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations announced that its workers recovered 28 bodies from the rubble following a Ukrainian attack on a bakery in the city of Lysychansk in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine on Saturday. The ministry had previously reported that 10 people were rescued. The ministry released a video showing emergency workers carrying two bloodied individuals on stretchers in darkness from beneath the ruins of a building. Ukrainian officials have not provided any statement regarding the incident.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that "dozens of civilians" were in the building at the time of the attack and that Western weapons were used. Zakharova said in a statement, "According to the Office of the Luhansk People’s Republic in the Russian Federation, the Kyiv regime shelled civilian areas in Lysychansk on Saturday, February 3, and civilian infrastructure facilities were subjected to a brutal attack. Due to the terrorist actions of Ukrainian neo-Nazis, the bakery was destroyed," as reported by the Russian news site Sputnik.
She continued, "While dozens of civilians were in the bakery, Ukrainian forces ordered an attack on the building. The extremists know that local residents, the elderly, families, and children are present there on Saturdays, and the shelling completely destroyed the building." She added, "According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, about 40 people are likely under the rubble. It is already known that at least 11 civilians from the Luhansk Republic have been killed, and there are many injured. Currently, search and rescue operations for survivors are ongoing, and emergency specialists are recovering the bodies of the deceased from the rubble."
The media center in Luhansk reported that Ukraine shelled the bakery using the advanced American mobile rocket system "HIMARS."
