Ukraine Shells Bakery With US Weapons, Kills 28

Russia said on Sunday that at least 28 people were killed in the Ukrainian shelling of a bakery in Lysychansk, a city in the Russian-controlled Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine.

The bakery was hit on Saturday afternoon, and the death toll rose as emergency workers searched through the rubble overnight. According to Reuters, local officials said the strike was carried out by Ukrainian forces using a US-provided HIMARS rocket system.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the strike was carried out with Western weapons. “According to preliminary information, the strike was carried out with Western weapons,” she said.

Zakharova called the strike a “terrorist attack” and said EU citizens should know their taxes are being used to send weapons systems to Ukraine, which “uses them to kill civilians.”

The major shelling of the bakery has been confirmed by The Associated Press and US-backed military publication Stars & Stripes, among others.

Ukrainian attacks inside Russian-controlled Ukraine and inside Russian territory have increased as it has become clear that Ukrainian forces can’t gain any territory. Last month, Ukrainian artillery shelling killed 27 at a market in the Russian-controlled portion of the Donetsk Oblast.

Later in January, Kyiv downed a Russian military transport plane in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast that Moscow said was carrying dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine used US-provided Patriot missiles to shoot down the plane.