Traitor colonel who switched sides to join Putin is killed in Ukrainian missile strike on a bakery

A colonel who switched sides to join Putin has been killed in an alleged Ukrainian missile attack on a bakery.

Colonel Alexey Poteleshchenko, 47, Minister of Emergency Situations in the Russian-annexed Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR), was killed in a rocket attack.

He was seen as a “traitor” by Ukraine after switching sides following the 2014 annexation of Luhansk.

In Lysychansk, at least 28 people were reportedly killed in the rocket attack on the building housing the Adriatic restaurant.

Reports indicate that troops used the restaurant – which was also a bakery – and may have died in the blast reportedly caused by Western-supplied HIMARS missiles.

According to reports, Poteleshchenko attended a birthday party at the location today. The party was for Luhansk MP Ivan Zhushma, but no information is currently available about what happened to the MP after the strike

At least 28 people were killed in Lysychansk in the rocket attack on the building housing the Adriatic restaurant (photo)

According to reports, Poteleshchenko attended a birthday party at the location today.

The party was for Luhansk MP Ivan Zhushma, but no information is currently available about what happened to the MP after the strike.

Putin-appointed governor of the invaded Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said Poteleshchenko – who was married to 47-year-old Oksana and had a 25-year-old son – was “a courageous man with an iron character and enormous fortitude.”

He was ‘a model of manliness and dedication’ and a ‘decisive and strong-willed commander who could be completely trusted’.

He vowed: “We will certainly take revenge on the enemy for his death and for the deaths of all those who fell victims of the inhuman attack on Lysychansk.”

The one-story building had a large sign reading “Restaurant Adriatic.” More bodies may be found, as researchers reported that only 65 percent of the rubble has been cleared so far. Survivors were shown on camera in a hospital

Emergency workers retrieve bodies from the rubble of a destroyed building after a Ukrainian attack on a location called Lysychansk, in the occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk

Moscow’s occupation forces said on Saturday that Kiev hit a building (pictured) that housed a bakery popular with locals on weekends

A still image from a Russian Emergency Situations Ministry outreach video shows a rescue worker amid the rubble of a bakery after a shelling in Lysychansk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on February 3

This excerpt from a handout recording released by Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry on February 3, 2024, shows rescuers clearing rubble, pulling out the bodies of victims and searching for survivors in a destroyed bakehouse hit by recent shelling in the city of Lysychansk

Reports suggest troops used the restaurant – which was also a bakery – and may have died in the blast reportedly caused by Western-supplied HIMARS missiles.

Earlier, the Moscow-appointed government in the annexed region said the dead included 18 men, nine women and one child. Ten others were seriously injured, four seriously.

Independent media outlet Astra reported that the bombed restaurant was where Russian troops dined.

Russian officials called the attack a “war crime” and claimed civilians, including one child, had been killed.

Authorities did not name any other victims of the rocket attack.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed a bakery had been hit.

“At a time when there were dozens of civilians in the bakery, the Ukrainian army ordered an attack on the building,” she said.

“As a result of the shelling, the building was completely destroyed.”

HIMARS missiles – usually supplied by the US – are typically used by Ukraine for precision strikes, indicating that, if confirmed, the restaurant was targeted, possibly because it was used by Russian officers.