Russia’s deadly attack on Lviv in western Ukraine, Zelensky says – WEIS

(LONDON) — Russian missiles struck the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Wednesday morning, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens more, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a local official said.

Among the dead was a 14-year-old girl, Zelensky said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.

“More than 30 people were injured,” he added. “Ordinary residential buildings in the city, schools and medical facilities were destroyed.”

Serhiy Kiral, deputy mayor of Lviv, told ABC News that at least seven people had been confirmed dead, including three children.

“Firefighters are still extinguishing the fire and trying to rescue people who may still be under the rubble,” Kiral said early Wednesday morning.

“It is not clear what genius planned this destination — these are purely residential areas in the center of Lviv, around the central train station,” Kiral added.

It was the worst attack in the western Ukrainian city since last year’s attack in which 10 people died, Kiral said, adding: “Impunity leads to increased crime; that’s the rule.”

Lviv was one of several cities that were struck by Russian missiles on Wednesday, Zelensky said. He added that five people were wounded in Kryvyi Rih. The Ukrainian aerospace forces wrote on Telegram that they shot down seven cruise missiles and 22 attack drones overnight. Russia fired a total of two ballistic missiles, 11 cruise missiles and 29 drones, the update said.

The latest wave of attacks followed rocket and drone strikes on Monday night and Tuesday morning that killed dozens of people in three cities. The deadliest incident was a double missile attack on the Poltava Military Communications Institute and a nearby hospital, killing more than 50 people and wounding hundreds, Ukrainian officials said.

First lady Olena Zelenskaya said Tuesday’s attack was a “shocking tragedy for all of Ukraine.” Zelensky said he had “ordered a full and prompt investigation into all the circumstances of what happened.”

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Telegram that the attacks in Poltava and Lviv were aimed at military facilities and the arms industry.

The Poltava military academy was reportedly used to train communications and electronic warfare specialists, as well as drone operators who carried out unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, attacks in Russia. The training there was conducted under the “guidance of foreign instructors,” the ministry said.

The attack on Lviv was carried out using “long-range precision weapons,” including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and attack drones, the ministry report said. The attack targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian defense industrial complex” that produce and repair “electronic components of aircraft and missile weapons.”

“The strike targets were reached,” the ministry said. “All designated targets were hit.”

The attack in Poltava took place against the backdrop of increasing Russian long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, military targets and critical infrastructure across the country.

Zelensky and his top officials have been pressing Western partners, including the United States, to ease restrictions on Kiev’s use of Western weapons and allow Ukrainian forces to attack airports and training grounds on Russian soil.

“Russia does not have a free hand,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at a Tuesday news conference when asked about the issue. “We continue to provide air defense systems to Ukraine,” he continued.

“We continue to provide Ukraine with other equipment that it can use to repel Russian military attacks, and that will continue to be our policy,” he said.

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