KYIV (Reuters) – A Russian drone strike early on Friday hit a bakery in northern Ukraine where traditional Easter cakes were being prepared, killing one man, Ukrainian officials said.
Images shared by Ukrainian emergency services, which said they were filmed at the scene of the strike in the city of Sumy, showed trays of Easter cakes – known as paska in Ukrainian – covered in grey dust, and a smashed window nearby.
The victim was a local businessman who was at the bakery to collect his order when the drone struck at 5 a.m. (0200 GMT), according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Ukraine’s Christian community, including Orthodox believers, Catholics and Protestants, were marking the Good Friday religious holiday on Friday, and preparing to celebrate Easter on Sunday.
“So much for Russia’s ‘traditional Christian values.’ It is against the Lord, any faith, and any human values to strike an ordinary pastry shop, murder an entrepreneur, and destroy Easter bread. This is the evil we are dealing with every day,” Sybiha wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Last Sunday, two Russian ballistic missiles hit the centre of Sumy, killing 35 people in the deadliest strike on Ukraine this year, Ukrainian officials said.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
