LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Multiple people were killed or wounded Thursday in the largest attack on Lviv’s civilian infrastructure since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, destroying entire floors of a residential building that was struck and leaving the streets below covered in rubble.
Four were killed and nine others injured, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported Thursday, as emergency service workers in the western Ukrainian city searched the debris for more trapped people.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a reaction on Telegram, saying, “Unfortunately, there are wounded and dead. My condolences to the relatives! There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one.”
Zelenskyy also posted drone footage that shows wrecked buildings from above. Third and fourth floors of the struck building were ruined.
Ukraine’s air force reported it intercepted seven of the 10 Kalibr cruise missiles that Russia fired from Black Sea toward the Lviv region and its namesake city around 1 a.m. Thursday.
Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said around 60 apartments and 50 cars in the area of strike were damaged.
Sadovyi addressed residents in a video message, saying the attack was the largest on Lviv's civilian infrastructure since the beginning of the full-scale invasion last year.
“Russians are hitting us. That’s how they love us. I’m sorry for those people who were killed. They were young. So sorry for them,” said Ganna Fedorenko, a local resident, holding her hands crossed on her chest. She received injuries on her face, and an adhesive plaster turned red with blood on her right cheek. “This is terrible. They hit civilians.”
In the early days of the war, Lviv served as a main transit point for millions of refugees from different parts of the country that crossed the border to Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from the east and south remained in the calmer and safer Lviv.
Like the rest of the country, Lviv suffered power outages when Russia fired hundreds missiles over the winter, aiming to destroy Ukraine’s energy system. However, the attacks in the city were not as frequent as in the capital Kyiv, which makes Thursday’s strike with four people killed a shock for many in the city.
Ukrainians shared messages of support on social media for Lviv residents.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
