A Ukrainian bombing that hit a bakery in the occupied town of Lysychansk in the eastern Luhansk region has killed at least 20 people, according to Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
The front in eastern Ukraine has barely moved in months but the fighting remains bloody and bombings have intensified on both sides this winter.
In Lysychansk, which fell into the hands of Russian forces in July 2022 after a violent battle, “employees of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations found 20 bodies in the rubble.
“Despite the threat of a second strike, rescuers, risking their lives, continue to clear the rubble and search for people,” the ministry's press service said.
The same source published a video of rescuers working in the dark, extracting a body from the rubble before discovering an injured woman who was carried away on a stretcher.
The ministry said earlier it planned to continue the search "all night" and that rescuers had so far "rescued 10 people" from the rubble.
A building reduced to rubble
Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed governor of Luhansk, accused Kiev forces of targeting a busy bakery that he said is known for having fresh bread on weekends.
A man in “serious condition” was hospitalized in the city of Luhansk, according to pro-Russian authorities.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti published a video of a destroyed building, where we also see rescuers pulling a completely crushed car out of the rubble.
The one-story building bore a large sign with the name “Restaurant Adriatic” and appeared completely destroyed, reduced to rubble.
Lysychansk, located 15 km from Ukrainian-controlled territory, had a population of 111,000 people before the Russian offensive began.
Russian forces took control of it in the summer of 2022, as did its twin city of Sieverodonetsk, after one of the most brutal battles since the start of the offensive in February 2022.