Russia says 20 bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of an attack on a bakery (Picture: EPA)
At 20 people have died after Ukraine launched a devastating strike on a building housing a bakery, Russian officials claim.
The blast rocked the Russian occupied city of Lysychansk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk today.
Russia’s emergency ministry said its workers have recovered 20 bodies from the rubble following the attack.
Videos shared by Moscow showed rescuers carrying people out on stretchers from the wreckage of the building.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said ‘dozens of civilians’ were in the building when it was hit and also claimed that western weapons were used.
The Russian-controlled Luhansk information centre said Ukraine shelled the bakery using the US-supplied high mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS).
According to Russian reports, the average age of the victims was ‘35 years, plus or minus five years’.
Emergency services pulled people from the rubble in the Russian occupied city of Lysychansk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk today (Picture: Russian Emergencies Ministry/AFP)
Russia claims ‘dozens of civilians’ were in the building when it was hit (Picture: Russian Emergencies Ministry/AFP)
‘There are no children among the dead at the moment, but the removal of rubble is still ongoing,’ an official said.
Earlier, Leonid Pasechnik, put in charge of Ukraine’s Luhansk region by Moscow, said dozens of people may be under the rubble.
Lysychansk lies around nine miles from Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Russia took control of the area and the neighbouring city of Sieverodonetsk in summer 2022 after fierce fighting.
The frontline in eastern Ukraine has hit a stalemate, barely moving for months – but intensified attacks on both sides have caused yet more bloodshed this winter.
Yesterday, an entire column of Russian armoured vehicles were obliterated by Ukrainian drones.
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