Russia Launches The Largest Air Attack On Lviv Since Invasion, UN Coordinator: Causing Human Suffering

Russian airstrikes against Lviv August 15. (Wikimedia Commons/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

Russia rained down on two western regions of Ukraine bordering Poland, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen others, Ukrainian officials said, while the United Nations criticized the wave of attacks.

Local media said the attack was the largest airstrike in the Lviv region since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Casualties were reported in the northwestern region of Volyn. Officials said an industrial company in the regional capital Lutsk was attacked in an attack overnight. Several people were also hospitalized, said Governor Yuriy Pohiyaiko.

Swedish company SKF said its factory in Lutsk was hit by a missile overnight and killed three employees.

Fifteen people were also injured in the Lviv region, said Maksym Governor Kozytskyi. Six missiles damaged dozens of buildings and kindergarten playgrounds in and around the regional capital. Kozytskyi said the youngest victim was 10 years old.

Volyn and Lviv borders Poland and are hundreds of miles from the front lines, where the Ukrainian military fended off Russian troops in a war that lasted nearly 18 months.

Meanwhile, national network operator Ukrenergo said power lines in the region were also damaged, but electricity had been restored to those affected.

Lviv was relatively unaffected by Russian airstrikes until last July. The city is considered safe from conflict, with several government offices moving there and international NGOs using it as a base. It is also a transit point for Ukrainian refugees on their way to Poland and beyond.

"This is an area where millions seek safety and protection after fleeing the horror of the Russian invasion," Denise Brown, the UN resident coordinator in Ukraine, said in a statement condemning the attack.

"Russia's continuous attack on critical infrastructure in populated areas has caused tremendous human suffering," he said.

Separately, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, had been damaged in eight areas during Tuesday's attack.

"Russia's daily terror has one goal: destroying us, our enthusiasm for war," Andriy Yermak, chief administration of Ukraine's presidency, wrote on Telegram.

"This will not happen," he said.

Meanwhile, the air force said the attack this time involved at least 28 cruise missiles, with 16 of them being shot down. Meanwhile, spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television the incoming missiles were constantly changing directions, making it difficult for air defenses to fend off them.