East Ukraine strike death toll hits 28

MOSKAU, Russia (AFP) — The death toll from a strike on a bakery in the occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk has climbed to 28 people, including a child, Russian rescuers said on Sunday.

Moscow’s occupation forces on Saturday said Kyiv had targeted a bakery that is popular on weekends, almost two years into Russia’s full-scale offensive against its neighbor.

The front in eastern Ukraine has barely moved in months but battles continue to be bloody, with intensified attacks on both sides this winter.

“Search operations continue on the site of the collapsed bakery... 28 people, including a child, have died,” the Russian emergency situations ministry posted on Telegram.

Rescuers have so far saved 10 people from the wreckage, according to the ministry.

The ministry had earlier published a video of emergency staff combing the rubble in the dark, where they found a corpse and an injured woman who was evacuated on a stretcher.

Moscow-installed authorities said one wounded man in “serious condition” was taken to hospital in the city of Lugansk.

Russia’s foreign ministry has said Western weapons were used in the attack and that it expected “quick and unconditional condemnation” from international organisations.

Lysychansk, a city in the Lugansk region that had a population of around 110,000 people before Moscow’s offensive, fell to Russian forces after a brutal battle in the summer of 2022.