Four Russian Missiles Hit Lviv: Six Civilians Killed, Eight Injured Including Children

Rescue workers among the rubble of a building hit by a Russian missile attack. (Wikimedia Commons/dsns.gov.ua/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Russian missiles hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Monday, killing at least six people, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow forces stepped up attacks on infrastructure in preparation for an all-out strike in the east.

Thick plumes of black smoke billowed over the city after a series of explosions shattered windows and ignited a fire. Lviv and the rest of western Ukraine suffered only sporadic attacks during nearly two months of the war, becoming a relative refuge for people from parts of the country, where fighting was more intense.

Launching the Associated Press April 18, Lviv Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said six people were killed and eight others, including a child, injured by four Russian missile strikes.

He further explained that three Russian missiles hit a military infrastructure facility and another hit a tire shop. He said emergency teams were battling the fire caused by the attack.

Meanwhile, a hotel sheltering Ukrainians fleeing fighting further east was among the buildings badly damaged in last night's missile attack, according to Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, who put the death toll at six dead and 11 injured.

"The nightmare of war has caught up with us even in Lviv. There is no longer any place in Ukraine where we can feel safe," said Lyudmila Turchak, 47, who fled with two children from the eastern city of Kharkiv.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to "fight to the end" in strategically vital Mariupol, where the last known pocket of resistance in a seven-week siege, hides in a sprawling steel mill lined with tunnels.

Russia has repeatedly urged troops there to lay down their arms, but those remaining ignored an ultimatum to surrender or die on Sunday.

Military analysts say Russia is stepping up its attacks on weapons factories, railways and other infrastructure targets across Ukraine to undermine the country's ability to resist a massive ground offensive in Donbas, Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland.

Russia said its missiles hit more than 20 military targets across Ukraine overnight, including ammunition depots, command headquarters and groups of troops and vehicles.

Not only that, Moscow also said their artillery hit 315 other Ukrainian targets, while warplanes carried out 108 strikes against Ukrainian troops and military equipment. Claims cannot be independently verified.