Russian authorities on Saturday announced that a Ukrainian terror attack on the city of Lysychansk resulted in the killing of at least 11 individuals.

As search and rescue operations are ongoing, there is the possibility of finding more people that are trapped under the rubble, they added. 

According to the Russian Investigative Committee, a HIMARS rocket system provided by the US appears to have been used to launch the attack. When the structure fell, roughly forty persons were buried beneath the rubble.

Twenty more persons are thought to remain under the debris, in addition to the at least twelve hospitalized. The local emergency authorities stated that the rescue effort would go on all night.

The Ukrainian shelling targeted a building housing a popular bakery.

"Unfortunately, 11 people died," Russia's emergency situations ministry said on Telegram.

Rescuers managed to save 10 people and hand them over to doctors, the ministry added, noting that rescue operations will continue overnight. 

Governor of Lugansk Leonid Pasechnik earlier confirmed that Kiev shelled a bakery that was known to bake fresh bread on weekends.

🇷🇺 Up to 40 people may be trapped under the rubble of the bakery in Lisichansk, Lugansk People's Republic, which was shelled by the US-backed Kiev terrorist regime. pic.twitter.com/CND5JF8fRQ

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) February 3, 2024

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Authorities reported that a man in "serious condition" with injuries was transported to a hospital in the city of Lugansk, and three other injured individuals were set to be taken there as well.

Pasechnik mentioned that police and emergency services are using special equipment in an effort to rescue the victims.

Russian MFA Accuses Ukraine of ‘Terrorism’ for striking bakery

The Ukrainian government, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was accused by the Russian Foreign Ministry of terrorism on Saturday following an attack by the Ukrainian military on a crowded bakery in Lysychansk that resulted in the deaths of at least eleven civilians.

"Russia will inform international organizations about the latest act of terrorism by Zelenskyy’s gang. We expect the relevant international organizations to issue a swift and firm rebuke for Kiev’s crime," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

Terror attacks amplified

As Ukraine struggled to achieve its counter-offensive objectives and encountered diminishing Western support in recent months, the operations conducted by Kiev seem to shift more closely to acts of terrorism.

On January 25, Ukraine shot down a Russian military transport plane that was carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange. Russia labeled the incident as a barbaric act of terrorism, resulting in the death of a total of 74 people.

Just four days earlier, a Ukrainian shelling in a busy market in Donetsk resulted in the deaths of 25 civilians, including two children. 

On December 30, 2023, Ukraine executed an indiscriminate strike on the Russian city of Belgorod, utilizing cluster-mounted Vilkha missiles and shells from a Czech-made RM-70 Vampire multiple-launch rocket system. 

The attack resulted in the deaths of 12 adults and two children, with 108 others wounded.

Read more: ICJ rejects Kiev's claim to recognize Russia as aggressor state