Zelensky vows response after Russian missiles kill five in Lviv

Lviv — A Russian missile slammed into a residential building in Lviv in western Ukraine on Thursday, killing five people in a city that is far from front lines and home to thousands displaced by war.

The roof and top floor of the building were destroyed in what Lviv’s mayor called the biggest attack of the war on civilian infrastructure in Lviv, a city 70km from the border with Nato and EU member state Poland.

“There definitely will be a response to the enemy. It will be a noticeable one,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an online post accompanying a video of the damage in Lviv.

Regional authorities put the death toll at five, including a woman and her mother.

Emergency services said at least 36 others had been hurt and that they had pulled seven people alive from the rubble. Video footage showed residents calming crying neighbours while others helped rescuers sweep up shattered glass.

“They, Russians, Rashists, say that they are bombing military objects but they hit a peaceful house. People were sleeping. How could they do it?” said Lviv resident Vira Luben, using a derogatory term for Russians.

Holding back tears, she added: “World, save and help us because without you we will not manage to deal with them.”

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had attacked Lviv with Kalibr missiles launched from the Black Sea. It said seven out of 10 missiles were shot down.

Overnight strikes

Moscow said it does not deliberately target civilians. The Russian defence ministry said it had conducted strikes overnight on unspecified Ukrainian troop bases and storage of foreign armoured vehicles with “high-precision weapons”.

Moscow also said Ukraine has fired on areas over the border with Russia. Ukrainian shelling killed one man on Thursday in a village in Russia’s Belgorod region, the regional governor said.

Lviv was home to about 700,000 people before Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The population has grown since then because many people have fled to Lviv from fighting and air strikes in other parts of Ukraine, mostly the south and east.

“This is the largest attack on Lviv’s civilian infrastructure since the beginning of the full-scale invasion,” city mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

He declared a two-day mourning period in the city in honour of the victims.

Sadovyi said that 35 residential houses, an office complex, a student campus, a school and 50 cars were damaged by the missiles.

Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office, called for more air defence systems from allies and appealed for membership of Nato, which holds a summit next week in Lithuania but is not expected to take in Ukraine while war is raging.

Reuters