Russia Attacks Lviv With Missiles: There Is An Indonesian Embassy, Logistics Supply Is Safe

Russian troops at one of the Ukrainian airports. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - A Russian missile targeted the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Friday morning, causing a large explosion and black clouds, with the Indonesian Embassy (KBRI) temporarily operating from the city, being moved from the capital Kyiv.

At least three explosions were heard near Lviv airport on Friday morning, with videos on social media showing a large explosion and plumes of smoke rising.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovy, said several missiles had hit the aircraft maintenance facility, destroying buildings but causing no casualties. The city has escaped significant battles so far.

Russia relies heavily on missiles and shelling to subdue Ukrainian forces, but has yet to secure any of its 10 largest cities.

In the capital, Kyiv, one person was killed and four injured when part of a Russian missile fell on a residential building in the northern part of the city on Friday morning, emergency services officials said.

Separately, the Indonesian Embassy, which was originally in Kyiv, is currently operating from Lviv, where there are nine essential staff, said Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Judha Nugraha.

"The Indonesian Embassy in Kyiv is currently operating from Lviv," Judha said in a short message to VOI, Friday, March 18.

Judha also ensured that so far the logistical needs for the Indonesian Embassy's operations were sufficient, in the midst of the war raging in Ukraine.

"Logistics is safe," he said.

Previously, Judha explained that apart from the 9 essential staff and families of the Indonesian Embassy, there were 23 Indonesian citizens who chose to stay in Ukraine because they married local residents, out of a total of 165 Indonesian citizens in Ukraine. He said 12 Indonesian citizens had been evacuated and nine others were in the process of evacuating from Chernihiv.

"They are scattered in Lugansk, Odessa, Lviv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Vinnitsia, so they are indeed scattered at several points," he said.

"For non-essential non-staff Indonesian citizens, especially women who are married to Ukrainian citizens. Because there are regulations in Ukraine for adult males aged 18-60 years are prohibited from leaving Ukraine for military service, so they are aware of the risks, they want to stay with her husband. Apart from the wife, there are also children who have dual citizenship, but we still count them as Indonesian citizens," he said.

To note, hundreds of thousands of refugees took refuge far from the Ukrainian battlefield in Lviv. This western Ukrainian city is close to the Polish border, hundreds of miles from Russia and has become one of the main destinations for Ukrainians forced to flee the fighting zone.

Russia has stepped up missile strikes against targets scattered across western Ukraine in recent days, in what Ukrainian officials see as an attempt to expand the conflict beyond the areas where their forces are now hampered.