Bakery hit

28 people killed in shelling of Russian-occupied city

According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, at least 28 people have been killed and ten others injured in the shelling of the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk, which is occupied by Russian troops. Russia blames Ukraine for the attack on Saturday, in which a building with a bakery is said to have been hit.

"The Ukrainian armed forces shelled a bakery in Lysychansk, there are civilians among the rubble," wrote the head of the Russian-annexed Luhansk region on his Telegram channel on Saturday. Ten people were rescued from the rubble, he said.

Moscow speaks of "terrorist acts"
 Russia's foreign office spokeswoman Maria Zakharova spoke of "terrorist acts by Ukrainian neo-Nazis". The government in Kiev had known that there were many people in the bakery at the time and had deliberately chosen this target, she claimed.

She called for international condemnation of the attack, especially in the West, as Lysychansk had been attacked with Western weapons systems. According to the authorities, the city was shelled with HIMARS rocket artillery. Ukraine has not yet commented on the attack and the Russian claims cannot be independently verified.

Taken by Russian troops in 2022
Before the war, Lysychansk was a large city with around 110,000 inhabitants. In the summer of 2022, it was taken by Russian troops after heavy fighting. The population is said to have been under 10,000 at the time.

City still heavily impacted by the war
The city, which together with neighbouring Zjevyerodonetsk formed an industrial conurbation in north-eastern Ukraine, is still heavily impacted by the war and is only around ten kilometers from the front line.