On Tuesday and Wednesday, Russia carried out the largest airstrikes against Ukraine this year. In Poltava, 53 people were killed and almost 300 were injured when ballistic missiles hit. Kinžal hypersonic missiles hit the center of Lviv, the mayor of the city announced at least seven dead, including three children.
Before dawn, sirens rang out in Lviv, western Ukraine, and shots hit many buildings in the center of the city. Mayor Andrij Sadovyj said that residential buildings, schools and architectural monuments on the UNESCO list were bombed or damaged.
Lviv, which lies near the border with Poland, does not face airstrikes as often as cities in eastern Ukraine. This attack is the worst since the beginning of the Russian aggression. Houses in the vicinity of the main train station and some areas of the station are on fire. Dozens of homes across the city have broken windows due to the pressure wave.
The rocket also hit a newly built residential building, completed during the war last April. People had already moved into it. According to the Minister of the Interior, Ihor Klymenko, the raid damaged more than fifty buildings. All this in places where there are no military targets. Rescuers search the rubble and search for survivors.
The strike comes just a day after two ballistic missiles hit the city of Poltava, destroying the Army Communications Institute building. According to Ukrainian media, the 53 victims include many newly mobilized soldiers, but civilians in nearby houses, including the hospital, were also killed.
“At the time of the attack, classes were in progress at the institute and the classes were full. At eight minutes past nine, the siren sounded, everyone tried to get into shelters,” said Defense Ministry spokesman Dmytro Lazutkin. Poltava is located 300 kilometers east of Kyiv and 120 kilometers south of the Russian border. Previously, the Russians shelled an air base in this city, used by the Ukrainian army.
In addition to Poltava and Lviv, Kyiv and Kryvyi Rih also faced bombing and drone attacks in the past thirty hours. The Ukrainian government reported that the enemy shelled energy infrastructure in a total of six areas.
The Russians are stepping up airstrikes as Ukrainian ground forces seize part of Russia’s Kursk region and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is appealing to allies to allow Kiev to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned the West against such an agreement on Wednesday. “If long-range missiles land on Russian territory, our response will hurt,” she threatened.
Attacks on cities will probably continue. Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed on Wednesday that a Russian warship carrying Kalibr cruise missiles entered the Black Sea.
The American Institute for the Study of War writes in its new analysis that the Russian leadership and President Vladimir Putin appear to be convinced that Russia has enough strength to continue to gradually weaken Ukraine and occupy more territory, albeit slowly and with great loss of life and technology . “The Ukrainian offensive has apparently not changed Putin’s strategic thinking,” say experts.
