A Russian airstrike on the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, near the NATO member Poland’s border, claimed the lives of seven people, injured more than 30, and destroyed historic buildings in the heart of the city, according to regional officials.
The attack occurred a day after the deadliest single attack of the year, when Russia hit a military institute in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava with two ballistic missiles, killing 50 people and injuring hundreds.
Among those killed in Lviv by the drone and missile attack were three children, as reported by Mayor Andriy Sadovyi on Telegram.
In a video posted on Telegram, the mayor, standing among the rubble of a destroyed building, stated that more than 50 structures were damaged, including schools, residences, and clinics, most located in the city’s center.
Following this deadly attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his allies to assist in bolstering air defenses and called for permission for long-range strikes inside Russia.
“Anyone convincing partners to provide Ukraine with greater long-range capabilities to respond adequately to terror is working to prevent exactly these kinds of Russian terrorist strikes on Ukrainian cities,” Zelensky stated.
A witness in the city also told Reuters that buildings had been damaged.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Poland, warplanes were scrambled for the third time in eight days to secure the country’s national airspace, according to the operational command of the armed forces.
“It was another busy night for the entire air defense system in Poland due to…strikes conducted by the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation,” the command stated via X.
Russia also struck Kyiv and other regions with missiles today, but no damage has been reported so far.
In recent days, Russia has been bombarding Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones, which some Russian military bloggers claim is Moscow’s response to Kyiv’s recent incursion into Russian territory.
Russia has yet to comment on the attacks in Poltava or today’s strikes in Lviv and Kyiv.
