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
Ukraine, US, Europe still seeking common ground in peace talks, French official says
- French presidency official: “The European perspective of Ukraine is clear and it’s a realistic perspective”
PARIS: Ukraine, the United States and European powers are still working to find a joint position that would outline the contours of a peace deal, including security guarantees for Kyiv, that could be taken to Russia, a French presidency official said on Friday.
“Our goal is to have a common foundation that is solid for negotiation. This common ground must unite Ukrainians, Americans and Europeans,” the official told reporters in a briefing.
“It should allow us, together, to make a negotiating offer, a solid, lasting peace offer that respects international law and Ukraine’s sovereign interests, an offer that American negotiators are willing to bring to the Russians.”
The official said there was no joint document yet, but all sides would carry on negotiations in the coming days through various calls and meetings. He did not say whether Washington had set a deadline.
Kyiv is under pressure from the White House to secure a quick peace but is pushing back on a US-backed plan proposed last month that many see as favorable to Moscow.
Britain, France and Germany, along with other European partners and Ukraine, have been working frantically in the last few weeks to refine the original US proposals that envisaged Kyiv giving up swathes of its territory to Moscow, abandoning its ambition to join NATO and accepting limits on the size of its armed forces.
The French official said the talks aimed at narrowing differences with the United States and centered on territory and potential security guarantees for Ukraine once there is a peace accord.
Those discussions include the possibility of a NATO Article-5 type clause involving Washington that would seek to reassure Kyiv in case it was once again attacked by Russia, the official said.
The Europeans have also faced pressure in recent weeks with some American proposals touching on elements that concern NATO and the European Union, including suggestions on fast-tracking Ukraine’s accession to the bloc.
“The European perspective of Ukraine is clear and it’s a realistic perspective,” the official said. “That is what we are committed to and it is up to the Europeans and the Ukrainians to agree on how to proceed.”
