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
Russia says two crew members from US-seized tanker released
- “Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” Zakharova said
- Russia announced earlier this month that the US had decided to release the Russian duo
MOSCOW: Moscow said Wednesday two Russian crew members of a tanker seized this month by the United States in the Atlantic had been released and were on their way home.
US authorities took over the Russian-flagged vessel earlier this month, alleging it was part of a shadow fleet carrying oil from countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The United States said publicly that the Marinera’s crew could be prosecuted. Russia said that would be “categorically unacceptable” and accused Washington of stoking tensions and threatening international shipping.
“Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.
Russia announced earlier this month that the United States had decided to release the two Russian crew members, but last week its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the decision had not yet been implemented.
The captain and the first officer of the tanker have left UK waters, Solicitor General for Scotland, Ruth Charteris told a court hearing Tuesday, Press Association news agency reported.
“The captain and the first officer are now aboard the US Coast Guard vessel Munro and have departed the United Kingdom’s territorial sea,” Charteris said.
Twenty-six of the 28 crew have left the ship, officials told AFP. They were processed at a military site in Inverness, Scotland, the court was told, according to Press Association.
Five wanted to travel to the United States and 21 elsewhere. None have claimed asylum, the court heard.
“At the request of the US authorities, crew members have been allowed to disembark for onwards travel,” a UK government spokesperson told AFP Wednesday.
“They will be processed in line with all appropriate immigration and legal requirements.”
Britain was not involved in the movement of the other two crew members, the government said.
The United States seized the tanker, previously known as Bella 1, which was being escorted by the Russian navy, after chasing it from near the Venezuelan coast.
It was re-flagged and re-named to bring it under Russian jurisdiction in a bid to discourage the United States from trying to take it as part of its campaign against Venezuela.
