Rockets hit Lviv, Biden calls Putin a ‘butcher’

LVIV — Rockets struck the outskirts of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv yesterday for what appeared to be the first time since Russia’s invasion, and Russian forces took control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live.

Intense fighting raged in several parts of Ukraine, suggesting there will be no swift let-up in the monthold war, and the United States President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “butcher” after meeting Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

The Kremlin was cited by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying such comments would further damage prospects for mending Russian-US ties.

After more than four weeks of fighting, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and the conflict has killed thousands of people, sent nearly 3,8 million abroad and driven more than half of Ukraine’s children from their homes, according to the United Nations.

Moscow signalled on Friday it was scaling back its military ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east

But two rockets hit the outskirts of Lviv, some 60 km (40 miles) from the Polish border, a city that so far have escaped the heavy bombardment and fighting that has devastated some Ukrainian cities closer to Russia.

Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said five people had been wounded and residents were told to head to shelters after three powerful blasts in mid-afternoon.