- Deadly Rocket Strike Hits Apartment Block in Lviv, Ukraine
- Mayor Describes Attack as “One of the Largest” on Civilian Infrastructure
- Multiple Casualties, Injuries, and Damages in Russian Strike on Lviv
At least six persons, including a 95-year-old woman, were killed when a Russian rocket struck an apartment block in western Ukraine’s Lviv.
In what the mayor of Lviv characterized as “one of the largest attacks” on the city’s civilian infrastructure, forty more people were injured.
According to Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, 35 structures were damaged during the nocturnal strike.
State-run Russian television reported that a military academy was struck. It provided no evidence to support its assertion.
Earlier, the Russian defense ministry issued a statement claiming that “long-range precision weapons” launched from the sea had been used to strike temporary Ukrainian troop deployment sites and depots storing foreign-made armored vehicles.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine pledged a “tangible” response to the overnight attack by “Russian terrorists”.
On Thursday morning, Lviv declared two days of bereavement.
The sixth verified victim of the Russian strike was discovered Thursday evening by rescuers who had been searching the rubble all day.
Mr. Sadovyi stated that additional individuals may still be entrapped.
In addition, he mentioned that 60 apartments and 50 vehicles were damaged.
Earlier in the day, Lviv region chief Maksym Kozytskyi stated that the eldest victim, a survivor of World War II, was 95 years old.
“There is a shelter next to the house that was hit by the missile,” Mr. Kozytskyi explained.
“The door was open and in excellent condition at the time of the alarm. However, there were only five individuals in the entire shelter. Extremely disappointed”
Witness Olya said she was awakened by the first explosion but couldn’t leave the flat before the second.
“The ceiling started to fall,” she said. “My mother was struck instantly, and I was knee-deep in debris after jumping out of the way.
“I attempted to contact my mother, but I was unable to do so. I crawled to the window, yelled, and was rescued and sent to the hospital within 30 minutes.
“Upon my return, I learned that my mother and neighbors had passed away. It appears that I am the only survivor from the fourth floor at this time.
Dr. Sasha Dovzhyk, who works at the Ukrainian Institute in London but is presently in Lviv, described hiding in her bathroom when the air raid siren sounded.
“This is what we are supposed to do,” she stated. “This is standard Ukrainian procedure.
Between yourself and the street, the outside, there should be two barriers and preferably no windows or glass.
“When the rocket, the missile, which we now know was a Kalibr missile, struck the residential building 2 kilometers away, the walls in the bathroom where I was hiding shook, indicating that the impact was quite strong.”
The Ukrainian air force claimed that Russia launched the missiles from the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces announced via Telegram that seven out of ten Kalibr cruise missiles had been intercepted.
For months, Russia has bombed Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones, often hitting civilians and causing outages.
For months, Russia has bombed Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones, often hitting civilians and causing outages.
Last week, 13 people, including children, were murdered when a restaurant and shopping center was bombed in Kramatorsk, an eastern Ukrainian city close to Russian-occupied territory.
Russian forces have assaulted Lviv in western Ukraine, distant from the fighting lines in the south and east.
Last month, Lviv officials reported that a drone attack had damaged the city’s vital infrastructure.
