KYIV: A missile attack on an apartment block in western Ukraine’s Lviv killed four people on Thursday, in what its mayor said was the biggest attack on civilian infrastructure in the city since Russia’s invasion of the country began.
While Russia regularly pounds Ukraine with missiles, artillery and drones, the Lviv region, hundreds of kilometers from the frontlines and near the Polish border, has largely been spared the aerial onslaughts.
“An apartment building was damaged as a result of the Russian missile attack,” Ukraine’s Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram.
“The 3rd and 4th floors in two sections of the house were destroyed... As of 7:00 am 4 people were killed, 9 were injured.”
Rescuers were working to reach those still trapped under rubble, he said.
More than 50 apartments had been “ruined” and a dormitory at Lviv Polytechnic University had been damaged, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi posted on Telegram.
“This is the biggest attack on Lviv’s civilian infrastructure since the beginning” of Russia’s invasion, he said.
“Consequences of the night attack by Russian terrorists,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote alongside a Telegram video post showing a damaged building.
“There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one.”
It was unclear how many missiles had been launched.
Earlier, regional governor Maksym Kozytski said “several” missiles were “moving in the direction of the western regions”, citing Ukraine’s Air Force Command.
A separate video posted by Kozytski showed a multi-story building with part of its top floor destroyed.
Emergency services were on the scene and rescuers were “sorting through the debris,” he said.
“As of now, the rubble is being dismantled,” he said. “We are doing everything possible to... save people.”
Unverified videos posted to Telegram purporting to show the aftermath of a strike showed shattered glass littering the floor of what appeared to be a dormitory.
It was not clear if the videos showed the same strike.
On June 20, Lviv was hit by a major Russian drone assault on Kyiv and other cities.
Ukraine has recently bolstered its air defense systems with Western-supplied weapons and the number of Russian missiles and drones breaking through has diminished.
But the spokesman for Ukraine’s air force, Yuriy Ignat, recently said that newly supplied systems were still insufficient to cover the whole country.
Slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine delayed Kyiv’s planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defenses in occupied areas, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a TV interview broadcast Wednesday.
“Our slowed-down counteroffensive is happening due to certain difficulties in the battlefield. Everything is heavily mined there,” he told CNN via a translator in the pre-taped interview.
Four dead after missile strike on apartment block in Ukraine’s Lviv
https://arab.news/ywp4f
Four dead after missile strike on apartment block in Ukraine’s Lviv
- Rescuers are working to reach those still trapped under rubble
- More than 50 apartments destroyed and a dormitory at Lviv Polytechnic University damaged
France to vaccinate cattle for lumpy skin disease as farmers protest against cull
- The announcement comes after several outbreaks of the highly contagious disease prompted authorities to order the culling of entire herds
PARIS: France will vaccinate 1 million head of cattle in the coming weeks against lumpy skin disease, Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said on Saturday, as protesting farmers blocked roads in opposition to the government’s large-scale culling policy.
The announcement comes after several outbreaks of the highly contagious disease prompted authorities to order the culling of entire herds, sparking demonstrations by farmers who consider the measure excessive.
Lumpy skin disease is a virus spread by insects that affects cattle and buffalo, causing blisters and reducing milk production. While not harmful to humans, it often results in trade restrictions and severe economic losses.
“We will vaccinate nearly one million animals in the coming weeks and protect farmers. I want to reiterate that the state will stand by affected farmers, their losses will be compensated as well as their operating losses,” Genevard told local radio network ICI.
France says that total culling of infected herds, alongside vaccination and movement restrictions, is necessary to contain the disease and allow cattle exports. If the disease continues to spread in livestock farms, it could kill “at the very least, 1.5 million cattle,” Genevard told Le Parisien daily in a previous interview.
A portion of the A64 motorway south of Toulouse remained blocked since Friday afternoon, with about 400 farmers and some 60 tractors still in place on Saturday morning, according to local media.
The government, backed by the main FNSEA farming union, maintains that total culling of infected herds is necessary to prevent the disease from spreading and triggering export bans that would devastate the sector.
But the Coordination Rurale, a rival union, opposes the systematic culling approach, calling instead for targeted measures and quarantine protocols.
“Vaccination will be mandatory because vaccination is protection against the disease,” Genevard said, adding that complete culling remains necessary in some cases because the disease can be asymptomatic and undetectable.
France detected 110 outbreaks across nine departments and culled about 3,000 animals, according to the agriculture ministry. It has paid nearly six million euros to farmers since the first outbreak on June 29.
