KYIV — Russia launched a barrage of missiles at Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday, targeting the west of the country and regions bordering Poland, a NATO member. Areas to the east, close to the frontline of the war, were also hit.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched 28 cruise missiles from the air and the Black Sea, adding in a statement that it had managed to shoot down 16 of them. At least three people died, with many more wounded, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Missiles struck the city of Lviv, which is just 80 kilometers from Ukraine’s border with Poland, as well as the Volyn region, which also borders the NATO country. Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk to the east, and Cherkasy in central Ukraine were also targeted.
Tuesday’s barrage is one of the largest Ukraine has experienced recently. Western Ukraine has typically seen fewer missile attacks by Russia than other parts of the country, though Lviv was also targeted last month.
Debris from the missiles damaged dozens of residential buildings in Lviv on Tuesday, Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyy.
“In Lviv debris fell onto the roofs of residential buildings … and caused fires, forcing locals to evacuate. The roof of one of the local department stores collapsed also because of debris,” Kozytskyy said. Several people were wounded, he added.
In the Volyn region, three people died and three others were wounded in the strikes, Yuriy Pohulyaiko, the local governor, said in a video statement.
In Dnipro — an important logistics hub near the front line of the war in eastern Ukraine — Russia hit an industrial area, leaving a man and a woman wounded. “During the morning mass attack, defenders shot down seven cruise missiles over Dnipropetrovsk region,” the local governor said in a statement.
Russia also struck targets in Donetsk in the east, as well as Zaporizhzhia. In Smila in central Ukraine, Russian missiles damaged a local hospital and industrial facility, leaving half the town without water, the local governor said.