Russia Accuses Ukraine of 'Monstrous' Attack on Bakery

This grab from a video released by the Russian Emergencies Ministry on Feb. 3, 2024, shows rescuers clearing rubble, taking out victims' bodies and searching for survivors inside a destroyed bakehouse hit by recent shelling in the city of Lysychansk.

Russia on Monday accused Ukraine of carrying out what the Kremlin called a “monstrous” attack on a bakery in a Russia-occupied city in eastern Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov further called Saturday’s attack in Lysychansk a “terrorist act” on peaceful infrastructure.

Russia said the attack killed 28 people.

Lysychansk had a population of about 110,000 people before Russia’s invasion. It fell to Russia in the summer of 2022 and is 15 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Ukrainian officials did not comment about the attack.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of conducting attacks on civilian sites, including Ukraine reporting frequent Russian missile and drone strikes targeting Ukrainian cities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was considering replacing several senior officials, and not just in the military, in order to appoint the best people leading Ukraine.

In an interview broadcast with Italian state RAI television Sunday, Zelenskyy said “a reset is necessary,” as he considers who would be the best people to lead various sectors in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said the changes could include the dismissal of his top military chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

Last November, Zelenskyy rebuked Zaluzhnyi for telling a Western media outlet that the war in Ukraine had entered a new phase of attrition.

Earlier Sunday, Zelenskyy visited Ukrainian troops on the southeastern front.

Zelenskyy awarded medals to pilots and was briefed on a series of Russian attacks on targets in the Dnipropetrovsk region and on how to use Western and hybrid air defense systems to protect Ukraine’s skies.

Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.