Russian missiles kill 6 in civilian areas of west Ukraine city far from front line
LVIV, Ukraine — Russia fired cruise missiles Thursday 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 Ukraine last year.
Emergency crews with search dogs went through the rubble of the building after the nighttime attack destroyed the roof and the top two floors. At least 36 people were injured, authorities said.
The youngest of the people who died was 21 and the oldest was a woman of 95, said Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv region.
“This woman survived the Second World War but, unfortunately, she didn’t survive” Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kozytskyi said.
The last victim was pulled from the wreckage hours after the attack, and seven survivors were rescued, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said. About 180 people received psychological support after the attack.
Debris and wrecked cars lined the street outside the damaged building, which overlooks a small park with swings and climbing equipment.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said the body of a woman was pulled from the rubble late Thursday, bring the death toll to six. Kozytskyi said 14 people were hospitalized. Sadovyi said about 60 apartments and 50 cars were damaged. He announced two days of official mourning.
U.S. 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 500 miles away — around 1 a.m. Thursday.
The Kremlin’s forces have repeatedly hit civilian areas during the war, though Russian officials say they choose only targets of military value.
Lviv is near the western border with Poland and is nearly 300 miles from Kyiv and 425 miles from the frontline southern region of Kherson. Kyiv’s counteroffensive to dislodge Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine is in its early stages.
Sadovyi addressed residents in a video message, saying the attack was the largest on Lviv’s civilian infrastructure since the beginning of the invasion.
Resident Ganna Fedorenko suffered injuries to her face, where an adhesive plaster on her cheek had turned red with blood. She held her hands crossed on her chest as she reacted to the attack.
“Russians are hitting us. That’s how they love us. I’m sorry for those people who were killed. They were young. So sorry for them,” she said. “This is terrible. They hit civilians.”
The Ministry of Internal Affairs said 64 people had to leave their homes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised “a response to the enemy. A tangible one.” He left Thursday on an official trip to Bulgaria at the invitation of its new pro-Western government, with talks about weapon supplies on the agenda.
Ukrainian air force updates on the missiles’ course during the night showed that they flew to the Kyiv region first, then turned west and flew toward Lviv. Russia often changes the route of its missiles and drones to find weak spots in Ukraine’s air defenses.
In the early days of the war, Lviv served as a main transit point for millions of refugees from different parts of Ukraine who crossed the border to Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from the east and south remained in calmer and safer Lviv.
Like the rest of the country, Lviv suffered power outages when Russia fired hundreds missiles over the winter with the aim of destroying Ukraine’s energy system. However, the attacks on the city were not as frequent as those on the capital, Kyiv, which made Thursday’s multiple-fatality strike a shock to many in the city.
Ukrainians shared messages of support on social media for Lviv residents.