Reuters/Romain BaruchThe mayor of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv said seven people, three of them children, have been killed in a new wave of Russian attacks.
The attack comes as Ukraine is still recovering from the killing of at least 50 people at a military academy in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava on Tuesday.
Lviv Mayor Andrei Sadovy said Russia carried out the attack early Wednesday using drones and hypersonic missiles. Officials said the victims included an infant, two girls aged 9 and 14, and a woman who worked as a midwife in the city.
Explosions were also heard over the capital Kiev when air defense systems targeted Russian missiles.
President Volodymyr Zelensky/XMeanwhile, five people were injured in an attack on a hotel in the city of Krivoy Rog and damage to nearby neighborhoods, officials said. “Thank God, everyone is alive now,” said Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul.
The Ukrainian military said that the country has been put on air alert.
Dozens of people were also injured in Lviv, and Sadovy said more than 50 buildings in the city center were damaged, including homes, schools and clinics.
Rescue workers continue to search through the ruins of the military academy Poltava helps survivors of Tuesday’s attack.
Mykyta Petrov, a 26-year-old cadet who started studying at the Military Communications Academy in Poltava just two weeks ago, said shortly after 09:00 (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday , two missiles hit, and the second missile exploded just three seconds after the first missile was launched.
“I ran outside and there was smoke and dust everywhere…a lot of people were smoking outside and a lot of people were killed.”
The trainee said there was “too much blood, too many bodies” and what he saw had a psychological impact on him.
The air raid siren had sounded two minutes earlier, which did not give people enough time to reach the dugouts.
“You imagine you are on the sixth floor of a building and you need to escape downstairs. Is it realistic to be able to do that in two minutes?” Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko told British radio Corporation (BBC).
President Zelensky has promised that what he calls “Russian scum” will pay for the attack and has repeatedly called for strengthening air defense systems so that Ukraine can protect itself from long-range missile strikes.
In a statement confirming the death of the military personnel, the Ukrainian Army said an investigation was underway to determine whether sufficient measures were taken to protect personnel at the facility where the missile struck.
Poltava region governor Filip Pronin called the attack a “cunning and cynical Russian attack” and later said 15 people were still believed to be trapped under the rubble.
The attack on Lviv, in Ukraine’s far west, came as the entire Ukraine was under an air raid alert. Witnesses said the city was hit at around 5:40 am (02:40 GMT), and the mayor later said the city had been hit by Knife missiles and drones.
Sadovy said some buildings near the train station were hit, and Lviv district administrative chief Maxim Kozytskyi said residential buildings were damaged in the attack.
Lviv has been largely spared the worst fighting in the two-and-a-half-year war, but last week Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure caused power outages, officials said.
Zelenskiy will meet with Ireland’s prime minister on Wednesday as Ireland prepares to announce new funding for the war in Ukraine.
The Prime Minister will also announce €43m (£36m) of aid to Ukraine, including €3m (£30m) of new funding to partner organizations through his development agency Irish Aid.
The Irish government said the package would provide essential humanitarian assistance, support recovery and eventual reconstruction, and contribute to Ukraine’s long-term objectives.
