Bakery Bombardment in Ukraine Kills Dozens, Russians Claim in Message Against Western Aid

A weekend trip to a bakery reportedly was deadly for dozens of people in eastern Ukraine.

Knewz.com has learned about the latest claim of Ukrainian military atrocities by the Russian military, after 101 weeks of fighting.

“The armed forces of Ukraine opened fire on a bakery in Lysychansk,” Leonid Pasechnik said. He was installed as leader of the disputed Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine after the Russian army moved in.

A memorial in Lysychansk, Ukraine from May 2022. The city has endured regular shelling for two years. By: MEGA

The Russians claim the Saturday, February 3 attack on the Adriatic Restaurant killed 28 people, including one child. The bakery reportedly was filled with customers.

The Russian Emergency Ministry reported to Reuters that 10 people were removed alive from the ruins of the building, but a search was continuing for other victims.

Ukraine did not comment immediately on the Russian claims. But a spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said “Western weapons” were involved.

“EU [European Union] citizens should know how their taxes are used,” Maria Zakharova said. “They are used to buy deadly weapons systems and send them to the Kyiv regime which uses them to kill civilians.”

A family outside a Lysychansk, Ukraine bomb shelter in 2022. A bakery bombing February 3 reportedly killed 28 people. By: MEGA

That wording probably was no accident. Knewz.com reported in recent days on the EU approved a new $54 billion aid package for Ukraine.

United States aid to Ukraine remains bogged down in a debate between President Biden and Republicans in Congress over security at the Mexican border.

The Russians have controlled Lysychansk since July 2022. Before the Russian “special military operation” began, it had about 110,000 residents. Ukrainian officials say the current population is closer to 11,000.

Bakeries have played a surprisingly important role in the Russo-Ukraine fighting.

The Tambov Bread Factory in central Russia has been under U.S. economic sanctions since December 2023. The Financial Times explained it’s because workers build small drones there when they aren’t baking doughnuts.

A Russian armed drone. Some of them are being made at bread factories. By: MEGA

“They even smell like fresh bread,” a Russian TV reporter declared as he showed six drones.

The frame of the drones is made with a three-dimensional printer. Then camera holders and antennas are added.

One bakery-fresh drone costs between $270 and $540. The bakery’s employees also build camouflage backpacks, and the manager serves in the Army Reserves.

After the U.S. targeted Tambov for sanctions, one staff member said he shipped crackers and bread rings to the White House to thank the Biden administration for the attention.

A Russian bread factory owner says he sent bread and crackers to the White House after being placed under economic sanctions. By: MEGA

On the other hand, a former bakery worker from Ukraine has found a new home and opened a shop in San Antonio. She sells out of food on some weekends.

But Olena Romanko, who fled the fighting with her children more than a year ago, fears her husband now is a Russian prisoner.

“Military prisoners exchanged… civilian prisoners no exchanged,” Romanko told KENS-TV in broken English Saturday, January 27.

Romanko hopes the warfare will end in 2024. But in the meantime, she says she’s “started to put roots… in Texas.”

After more than a month without U.S. support, Russia may have slightly more territory.

The Belfer Center at Harvard University estimates the Russian military took 56 square miles of Ukrainian land during January. Ukraine has more than 233,000 square miles of land.