Russian Airstrike in Lviv Claims Seven Lives, Including Three Children

LVIV, Ukraine, Sept 4 – A devastating overnight Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, near the Polish border, has resulted in the deaths of seven people, including three children, according to local officials. The strikes, which also caused significant damage to historic buildings in the city center, followed a deadly attack the previous day that claimed 50 lives and injured hundreds more.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on allies to provide additional air defenses to help curb the “terror,” reiterating his plea for partners to permit the use of long-range Western weapons deeper into Russian territory. Everyone who persuades partners to give Ukraine more long-range capability to respond to terror fairly is working to prevent exactly these kinds of Russian terrorist strikes on Ukrainian cities,” Zelenskiy stated.

Russia has not yet commented on the strikes on Lviv or the previous day’s attack on Poltava. However, Moscow warned on Wednesday that it would deliver an “extremely painful” response if Ukraine were to launch long-range strikes on Russian territory.

Ukraine’s air force reported shooting down seven out of 13 missiles and 22 out of 29 drones during Russia’s latest assault. Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi confirmed that among the victims in Lviv were a nine-year-old and a 14-year-old. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported that around 40 people were injured in the attack.

Lviv city mayor Andriy Sadovyi announced on national television that more than 70 structures, including schools, homes, and clinics, had been damaged. Kozytskyi added that at least seven local architectural monuments, all located in the city’s historic area and UNESCO buffer zone, were among the affected sites.

In a separate incident, Russia attacked the city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday, injuring five people, including a 10-year-old child. Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported that the attack damaged four educational institutions, a hotel, a pharmacy, and other shops.

Russia has intensified its missile and drone strikes on Ukraine over the past 10 days, with some Russian military bloggers suggesting this is a response to a recent incursion by Ukrainian forces into Russian territory.

Poland scrambled aircraft for the third time in eight days to secure its airspace, according to the Polish armed forces’ operational command. Lviv is approximately 70 km (43 miles) from the Polish border. “This is another very busy night for the entire air defense system in Poland due to … the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation carrying out strikes,” the command stated on X.

Moscow has previously denied targeting civilians during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began over 30 months ago, asserting that Ukrainian military, energy, and transport infrastructure are legitimate military targets.