At least 28 killed in strike on Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine

In a statement on Telegram, the head of self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic Leonid Pasechnik said emergency services had rescued 10 people from under the rubble after what he said was a Ukrainian attack on a building housing a bakery on Saturday.

Pasechnik said Sunday has been declared a day of mourning in the Luhansk People’s Republic for the victims of the attack.

Ukraine’s defense ministry has not commented on the incident.

Lysychansk was taken over by Russian forces in July 2022, becoming the last town in the key region of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine to fall.

Ukraine has been escalating its attacks on Russia and Russian-controlled territory as its ground offensive stalls.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s military intelligence says it sank a Russian warship off the coast of Crimea, landing the latest in a series of blows to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry said it stopped Ukrainian drones headed toward Moscow and St Petersburg. Also in January, an oil depot was set ablaze as a result of a Ukrainian drone strike in Russia’s Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, according to authorities.

In December, Ukraine launched an attack on the Russian border city of Belgorod, killing at least 24 and wounding 108 others. Russia responded with retaliatory strikes on Kharkiv.

It comes as Russian forces are working hard to break through Ukraine’s defenses on the battlefield. A member of the Ukrainian army said they are in “deep defense mode.”

Russian troops are aiming to advance towards Chasiv Yar, a highly militarized town on higher ground a few kilometers west of Bakhmut.

Further south, Russian attention has been focused for months on the town of Avdiivka, and its massive coke plant, both of which Russia has been attempting to encircle.

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