Russia fired cruise missiles at a western Ukraine city far from the front line of the war, killing at least six people in an apartment building in what officials said was the heaviest attack on civilian areas of Lviv since the Kremlin’s forces invaded the country last year.
Emergency crews with search dogs went through the rubble of the building after the nighttime attack on Thursday destroyed the roof and the top two floors. At least 36 people were injured, according to authorities. The youngest of the people who died was 21 years old and the oldest was a woman of 95, Lviv province governor Maksym Kozytskyi said.
“This woman survived the Second World War, but unfortunately she didn’t survive” Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kozytskyi said.
Debris and wrecked parked cars lined the street outside the building, which overlooks a small neighbourhood park with swings and other playground equipment. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said the body of a woman was pulled from the rubble late Thursday, bringing the death toll to six. Kozytskyi said seven survivors were rescued from the wreckage and a total of 14 people hospitalised. Sadovyi said around 60 apartments and 50 cars in the area of strike were damaged. He announced two days of official mourning. US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink described the attack as “vicious”. “Russia’s repeated attacks on civilians are absolutely horrifying,” she tweeted.
Ukraine’s air force reported it intercepted seven of the 10 Kalibr cruise missiles that Russia fired from the Black Sea toward the Lviv region and its namesake city — more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) away — around 1 am Thursday. The Kremlin’s forces have repeatedly hit civilian areas during the war, though Russian officials say they choose only targets of military value. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said 64 people had to leave their homes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised “a response to the enemy. A tangible one”. Like the rest of the country, Lviv suffered power outages when Russia fired hundreds of missiles over the winter, aiming to destroy Ukraine’s energy system. However, the attacks in the city were not as frequent as in the capital Kyiv, and Thursday’s strike was a deep shock for many in the city. Ukrainians shared messages of support on social media for Lviv residents.
