At least 35 people were said to have been killed and many injured, as Russian forces hit targets in Lviv, Western part of Ukraine which is close to the Polish border, as they continue their offensive on Sunday, CNN reports.
According to the report, Russian forces fired missiles near the city of Lviv and hit a large military base close to the Polish border, killing dozens of people, the local governor said.
As the invasion runs into its third week, Lviv has largely been spared from Russia’s relentless bombardment. The picturesque city has instead become ground zero for displaced Ukrainians. Hundreds of thousands of them have flooded into the city in search of relative safety, with many using it as a stopping point before making their way to the Polish border about 43 miles (70 kilometres) away.
“The occupiers carried out an airstrike on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security. According to preliminary information, they fired eight missiles,” the Lviv regional administration said in a statement.
According to the report by AFP, about thirty-five people were killed and 134 were injured according to a midday report provided by the governor of the region, Maxim Kozitsky.
The military base in question is located about forty kilometres northwest of Lviv, a large city in western Ukraine where many people displaced by the Russian invasion have flocked. Several countries have also moved their embassies there, deeming this city safer than Kiev, the capital.
In addition, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, a city located about a hundred kilometers south of Lviv, said that a “strike” had targeted the airport of this locality early Sunday.
“The explosions that occurred this morning are due to a strike on the airport. We are in the process of establishing all the facts,” Ruslan Martsinkiv said on his Facebook page.