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Russia says toll in Ukraine strike on occupied city rises to 28

GreenWatch Desk Conflicts 2024-02-05, 9:36am

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The death toll from a Ukrainian strike on a bakery in the occupied eastern city of Lysychansk has climbed to 28 people,including one child, Russia said Sunday.

Moscow's occupation forces Saturday said Ukrainian forces had struck abuilding that housed a bakery popular with locals on weekends.
Kyiv has not yet commented on the strike.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday visited his embattledcountry's troops on the southern front, as Moscow's offensive drags on foralmost two years.
Lysychansk is in the occupied Lugansk region that fell to Russian forcesafter one of the most brutal battles during Moscow's long offensive in summer2022.
Before the Russian army entered Ukraine, the city had a population of around110,000 people.
"Search operations continue on the site of the collapsed bakery... 28 people,including a child, have died," the Russian emergency situations ministryposted on Telegram.
Officials in Lugansk said there were 18 men, nine women and one child amongthe dead. They did not give the child's age.
Russia released images of an almost completely destroyed building, withrescuers combing the rubble in the dark, where they found a corpse and awounded woman who was evacuated on a stretcher.
The one-storey building had a large sign on it that read "RestaurantAdriatic".
- Four in 'critical state' -
Russia alleged Saturday that Ukraine had used Western weapons in the strikeand said it expected swift and "unconditional condemnation" from theinternational community.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian army's daily report said aviation "struck 12 areaswhere enemy personnel were concentrated".
It also said its forces "struck one area of enemy concentration".
Rescuers have so far saved 10 people from the wreckage, according to theRussian emergency ministry.
The Russian-installed health minister of the occupational Lugansk government,Natalia Pashchenko, said they were brought to medical facilities in the maincity of Lugansk.
She said four of them are in "the most critical state" while two others arein a "severe state".
The city of Lugansk has been under pro-Russian separatist control since 2014.
The Moscow-installed head of Lugansk, Leonid Pasechnik, declared a day ofmourning in the Russian-held region and vowed retaliation against Ukraine.
- Zelensky in Robotyne -
Zelensky on Sunday visited troops in Robotyne -- a southern frontline villagewhich Kyiv retook from Russian forces last summer but has since been underrelentless attack.
Kyiv recaptured the small village in the Zaporizhzhia region in August lastyear in what was hailed as a major success in the counter-offensive againstRussian forces.
But Kyiv's efforts to claw back territory lost to Moscow was much slower thanexpected and the front has barely moved in months.
"I have the great honour to be here today, to reward you, because you havesuch a difficult and decisive mission on your shoulders to repel the enemyand win this war," Zelensky told fighters.
"I wish you victory, I want to reward you and I wish you to do everything toachieve this victory sooner," he said.
Later Sunday, his spokesman said Zelensky had been "relatively close" toexplosions during his trip.
"This is Robotyne, and there are active hostilities there, so there wererelatively close explosions," Sergiy Nykyforov said. "But I would notdramatise the situation."
Kyiv's army also said Sunday its forces had repelled 27 Russian attacks nearAvdiivka -- which Russia has tried to capture for months -- and the nearbyvillage of Novokalynove.
Russia has tried to seize the industrial city -- which has been a symbol ofUkrainian resistance after it briefly fell to Moscow-backed separatists in2014 -- since October.
Russian forces control territory to the north, east and south of Avdiivka.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that Moscow's forces"reached the outskirts of Avdiivka".