Following the attack, the acting head of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately targeting the building on a weekend to maximize civilian casualties. In a post on his Telegram channel, he added that “emergency services have managed to rescue ten people from under the rubble”, with doctors doing their best to save their lives.

In a statement on Saturday, Zakharova said that “according to preliminary information, the strike was conducted using Western weaponry”. She described the shelling as a “terrorist attack” meant to convey Kiev’s “gratefulness for the ‘generous’ financial support by EU countries”.

The foreign ministry spokeswoman added that the EU nations’ citizens should be cognizant of what their taxes are being spent on, namely “deadly weapons systems” used by the Ukrainian military to “kill civilians”.

“We suggest that Parisians imagine how they go in the morning for a baguette, and Rome’s residents – to have a cup of coffee with cornetto – but instead of freshly-baked pastry return home with relatives wounded or killed by Ukrainian terrorists,” Zakharova charged.

Echoing Pasechnik, the diplomat alleged that Kiev’s forces had been well aware that civilians, including families with children and the elderly, would typically flock to the bakery on Saturdays.

She added that the building had been razed to the ground as a result of the shelling.

According to Zakharova, the deadly incident is “further proof of the criminal nature of the Kiev regime”. She went on to quote Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on Friday characterized the Ukrainian military as a “terrorist organization that attacks ambulances”. He was referring to several attacks on paramedics working in Donbass last month.

The foreign ministry spokeswoman concluded by saying that Moscow will inform “international organizations of yet another terrorist attack on the part of Zelensky’s gang”. The official noted that Russia expects a swift and unequivocal condemnation of Kiev’s actions.

Authorities in the LPR declared Sunday a day of mourning for the 28 victims of the attack on the bakery, which include one child.

Pasechnik vowed that those responsible would eventually be brought to justice “for this horrible tragedy, for every death”.

According to the latest figures by the Russian Emergencies Ministry, at least 20 people were killed during the strike. Some ten others received wounds of varying severity, ending up hospitalized

The acting head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately targeting the building during the weekend to maximize potential damage on civilians.

“Several dozen more civilians may remain under rubble,” Pasechnik wrote on Telegram without providing an exact figure.

The local military commandant’s office told RIA Novosti the estimated figure of missing persons initially stood at 40.

The incident triggered a massive emergency services response, with multiple rescuers and heavy machinery deployed to the scene in order to dig through the rubble.

No official information on weaponry used by the Ukrainian military to strike the bakery was readily available. Some media reports, however, suggested the building was struck by a projectile launched from a US-supplied HIMARS missile system.