Yuliia Dysa, Max Hunder and Andriy Perun
Lviv/Kyiv: A rare Russian daytime drone attack on Ukraine killed three people, wounded several dozen and set a building in the historic centre of the western city of Lviv aflame, officials said, following an overnight bombardment that killed five.
More than 550 drones were launched at Ukraine in the middle of the day on Tuesday (Ukraine time), the country’s air force said – an abrupt change from Russia’s usual tactic of launching massive aerial attacks at night.
It followed an attack overnight in which Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles.
Russia had launched nearly 1000 long-range drones at Ukraine since Monday evening, Kyiv said. Russia also launched 23 cruise missiles and seven ballistic missiles during the night, hitting at least 10 locations across the country, according to Ukraine’s air force.
There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the scale of the attacks showed that more pressure had to be exerted on Russia.
“The scale of this attack clearly shows that Russia has no real intention of ending this war. And considering that Russia is also helping the Iranian regime carry out strikes in the region, the conclusion is obvious,” he said.
“Without additional and strong pressure on Russia, without tangible losses for them there in Moscow, no desire will develop to move away from the war or return to peace.”
Video footage posted online showed a drone crashing into an old building next to a church in the historic centre of Lviv, 60 kilometres from the Polish border, and Warsaw said it scrambled fighter jets. Twenty-two people in the city were wounded, officials said.
The attack stunned residents of Lviv, which is closer to Vienna than to the nearest active frontline on the other side of Ukraine. Although it has seen some lethal bombardments, they are far less frequent than in other major cities.
Tetiana Kachkovska said she saw the drone glide past the fifth-floor window of her workplace.
“My hands were shaking, my legs were shaking,” she recalled. “You can’t get used to this.”
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said a residential building was hit by a second drone, and debris from a third fell in a street.
“Russia is attacking a crowded city centre in broad daylight,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on X.
Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said the 17th-century St Andrew’s Church – part of the Bernardine monastery complex in Lviv’s historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site – had been damaged.
In another western Ukrainian city, Ivano-Frankivsk, a national guard soldier and his 15-year-old daughter were killed by a strike, according to regional Governor Svitlana Onyshchuk.
She said he had attended the birth of his daughter at a nearby maternity hospital several days ago. Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv said windows at that hospital had been blown out, but nobody inside was harmed.
Vinnytsia Governor Natalia Zabolotna said one person had been killed and 13 wounded in her region, south-west of Kyiv.
Air defences engaged drones throughout the day near Ukraine’s capital.
Officials in the western region of Ternopil said two energy facilities were attacked.
Moscow denies targeting civilians, although its attacks have killed thousands since it invaded in February 2022. It says Ukraine’s civil infrastructure is a legitimate target because striking it can reduce Kyiv’s ability to wage war.
Ukraine has also targeted Russia’s energy system, particularly oil refineries, depots and transport terminals.
Overnight attacks killed five people across Ukraine and caused disruption to power supplies in Moldova, where parliament declared a 60-day energy state of emergency.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 34 missiles and 392 drones overnight and that 25 missiles and 365 drones had been downed or neutralised.
Two people were killed and 12 wounded, including a five-year-old child near the eastern city of Poltava, a regional official said.
Zelensky said damage had been reported in 11 regions and issued a new appeal for allies to provide air defence munitions.
He has repeatedly warned that Kyiv, whose main supplier of air defence systems against ballistic missiles is the United States, will face a deficit of missiles while Washington is focused on the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Reuters
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