Kremlin blasts 'monstrous' strike on bakery in occupied Ukraine
MOSCOW
The Kremlin yesterday blasted a Ukrainian strike on a bakery in the occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk, which officials say killed at least 28 people including a child on Feb. 3.
The strike came almost two years into Russia's grinding offensive in Ukraine, where the frontline has barely moved in months, but attacks have intensified this winter.
"Continued strikes on peaceful infrastructure, in this case the bakery, are monstrous terrorist acts. The number of victims speaks to the monstrousness of this terrorist act," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"To stop more of them, the special military operation is continuing," Peskov said, using Moscow's preferred language for its offensive.
Russian officials in parts of Ukraine under its control said 18 men, nine women and one child died after Ukrainian forces struck a building that housed a bakery popular with locals.
Russia had released images of an almost completely destroyed building, with rescuers combing the rubble in the dark.
The one-story building had a large sign on it that read "Restaurant Adriatic."
Russia said on Feb. 3 that Ukraine had used Western weapons in the strike and said it expected swift and "unconditional condemnation" from the international community.
Ukraine has not yet commented on the strike.
The Ukrainian army's daily report on Feb. 3 said aviation "struck 12 areas where enemy personnel were concentrated."
It also said its forces "struck one area of enemy concentration."
Lysychansk came under Russian control in summer 2022, after one of the most brutal battles of the offensive.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was weighing a possible dismissal of the country’s top military officer, a prospect that has shocked the nation and worried Kiev’s Western allies.
Asked whether he was considering the ouster of Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Zelensky told Italian RAI TV in an interview released late on Feb. 4 that he was thinking about it as part of a broader issue of setting the country’s path. He said that “a reset, a new beginning is necessary,” and it’s “not about a single person but about the direction of the country’s leadership.”
“I’m thinking about this replacement, but you can’t say here we replaced a single person,” Zelensky said.
“When we talk about this, I mean a replacement of a series of state leaders, not just in a single sector like the military. If we want to win we must all push in the same direction, convinced of victory, we cannot be discouraged, let our arms fall, we must have the right positive energy.”
