Ukrainian forces on Saturday targeted a bakery located in the Russian city of Lisichansk, Lugansk People’s Republic, trapping dozens of people under the rubble. The building was heavily damaged in the strike and partially collapsed, footage from the scene shows.
According to the latest figures by the Russian Emergencies Ministry, at least 20 people were killed during the strike. Some ten others received wounds of varying severity, ending up hospitalized
The acting head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately targeting the building during the weekend to maximize potential damage on civilians.
“Several dozen more civilians may remain under rubble,” Pasechnik wrote on Telegram without providing an exact figure.
The local military commandant’s office told RIA Novosti the estimated figure of missing persons initially stood at 40. The incident triggered a massive emergency services response, with multiple rescuers and heavy machinery deployed to the scene in order to dig through the rubble.
No official information on weaponry used by the Ukrainian military to strike the bakery was readily available. Some media reports, however, suggested the building was struck by a projectile launched from a US-supplied HIMARS missile system.