2024 Lysychansk missile strike
On 3 February 2024, a Ukrainian missile struck a cafe in the Russian occupied city of Lysychansk as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian sources claimed 28 civilians, including three high-ranking collaborators, were killed in the cafe, while Ukraine has not yet commented on the attack.
February 2024 Lysychansk missile strike | |
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Location | Lysychansk, Ukraine |
Date | 3 February 2024 |
Attack type | Airstrike |
Deaths | 28+ (claimed by Russia) |
Perpetrators | Ukraine (claimed by Russia) |
Attack
Background
Lysychansk was the site of a pitched battle in June 2022 which, after over a week, saw the city captured by elements of the Russian Armed Forces and the Luhansk people's militia, and a collaborationist government was established and placed under the control of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), a separatist puppet state that claims control over all of Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast.
Strike
Russian state media had difficulty identifying the store which was targeted, first calling it a bakery, and then a restaurant, before the location was identified as the Adriatica café by milblogers. Eduard Sakhnenko, the Russian-installed mayor of Lysychansk reported that the attack was a missile strike and that there where at least 28 civilian casualties, three of which where local politicians including a member of the LPR's executive branch.
Victims
The missile strike targeted the Adriatica café during the birthday celebrations of Ivan Zhushma, a local collaborator and a member of the legislature of the LPR. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti stated that the attack killed several high-ranking LPR officials including:
- Alexey Poteleschenko - Luhansk People's Republic's Emergency Situations Minister
- Artem Trostyansky - Member of the People's Council of the Luhansk People's Republic
- Ivan Zhushma - Member of the People's Council of the Luhansk People's Republic
See also
References