War in Ukraine: Russia accuses kyiv of having killed 28 people in the occupied East… update on the situation

Le point sur la situation. MAXPPP – Nicolas Cleuet/Le Pictorium

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Sunday, February 4, 2024, discover the latest news around this conflict.

Russia accuses kyiv of killing 28 people in occupied East

Russia said on Sunday that the strike blamed on Kyiv on a bakery the day before in the occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine left 28 people dead, including nine women and a child. . Moscow-installed authorities in the occupied region accused Ukraine of bombing a building housing a bakery in the town of Lysychansk around 12:30 GMT on Saturday, with Himars rockets supplied by the United States.

Rescuers worked through the night searching for survivors in the rubble of the Adriatic Restaurant, located on Moskovska Street, where, according to Russian authorities, a bakery had been set up to civilians. "Ukrainian armed forces opened fire on a bakery in Lysychansk", said Leonid Passechnik, the Moscow-installed governor of Luhansk.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, 10 people were pulled out alive from the rubble and four others are in “extremely serious condition”. The Ukrainian authorities have not made a statement on the subject. Reuters was unable to independently verify the type of weapon used in the strike.

Russia now controls nearly 18% of Ukrainian territory since launching its invasion in February 2022, an annexation contested by Kyiv and its Western allies. According to the Ukrainian authorities, only a tenth of the 110,000 inhabitants who lived there before the war remain in Lysychansk.

Zelensky went near the front line in the Zaporizhia region

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky visited troops on the southeastern front and presented them with medals, his office said on Sunday, as rumors of a dismissal targeting his popular chief of staff continued. #39;army, Valeri Zalouzhny, are becoming more and more insistent. "It's an honor to be here today, to support the fighters and reward them. They face a difficult and critical mission to repel the enemy and defend Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky said in a statement after visiting the Zaporizhia region.

The presidential office said that the head of state visited the forward positions of the Ukrainian army near the village of Robotyne, close to the front line. Robotyne, located in southeastern Ukraine, was liberated at the end of August during Kyiv's counter-offensive. This visit comes in a context of uncertainty over the fate of the army chief of staff, Valeriy Zalouzhny.

Two sources said Friday that the Ukrainian government had informed the White House of its intention to fire the country's top military commander, who oversees the war against Russian occupying forces. Valeri Zalouzhny, who opposed Volodimir Zelensky on several issues, would be in the hot seat because of his management of the Ukrainian counter-offensive last year, which did not yield any results. the expected results.