Five rockets hit the Ukrainian city of Lviv

The Russian army apparently carried out a major attack: According to the mayor, five rockets were fired at the city of Lviv.

According to Ukrainian sources, five Russian rocket attacks hit the city of Lviv in the west of the country on Monday morning. There were “five violent rocket attacks at once on the civilian infrastructure of the old European city of Lviv,” wrote Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Twitter. A resident of south-west Lviv told AFP news agency that he had seen thick clouds of gray smoke rising from behind residential buildings.

“The Russians continue to barbarously attack Ukrainian cities from the air,” Podoliak wrote. Rescue workers are on their way to the scene, said the city’s mayor, Andriy Sadowy, in the messenger service Telegram. There is still no information about the extent of the damage or possible victims.

Located far from the front lines in western Ukraine, Lviv has rarely been bombed since the Russian invasion began on February 24. On March 26, the city was hit by a series of Russian airstrikes. Among other things, a fuel depot was attacked, five people were injured according to the authorities.

Dead and injured in earlier attack on Lviv

In another attack a few days earlier, the city was the target of an airstrike that hit an aircraft repair factory near the airport. On March 13, Russian cruise missiles targeted a key military base about 40 kilometers northwest of Lviv, killing at least 35 people and injuring 134.

Lviv, which is close to the Polish border, has become a haven for refugees. Western embassies were also moved from Kyiv to Lviv at the beginning of the war.