Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko, on Monday, tweeted “7 killed, a dozen injured. Still counting. #Lviv attacks this morning,” announcing the aftermath of the five Russian missiles that struck Lviv, this morning.

Earlier in the morning, Ukraine had reported many explosions in the western Ukrainian city,
which they suspect had been caused by missiles.

Following the attacks, footage showed smoke billowing above the city, and one video taken by a citizen appeared to show a cruise missile flying overhead.

Also read: Oil prices surge on supply worries as Ukraine crisis worsens

On
Facebook, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi stated five missiles had hit the city and
that emergency services were responding to the explosions. “The Russians continue barbarically
attacking Ukrainian cities from the air, cynically declaring to the whole world
their ‘right’ to kill Ukrainians,” he continued.

However, there
had been no immediate confirmation of any deaths or injuries as a result of the
hits, according to Sadovyi.

“Five
powerful missiles struck at once on the civilian infrastructure of the old
European city of Lviv,” Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak wrote on
Twitter.

Also read: Mariupol ‘doesn’t exist anymore’ after Russian shelling, says Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba

Late
in March, a series of Russian strikes targeted a fuel station in Lviv, injuring
five people. On March 18, an aircraft repair factory near Lviv’s airport was
bombarded. There were no injuries recorded. On March 13, Russian cruise
missiles hit a large military base about 40 kilometres north of Lviv, killing
at least 35 people and wounded 134 more.

Lviv
and western Ukraine have been less impacted than the rest of the country
during the war, and are considered a relatively secure safe haven. Close
to the Polish border, it has become a refuge for displaced people and hosts
several Western embassies that were relocated from Kyiv at the start of the
war.

Also read: Zelensky warns Russia will ‘finish off’ Donbas as he vows stiff resistance

The
attacks came after Russia announced on Friday that it will step up long-range
strikes in retribution for unnamed acts of “sabotage” and
“terrorism,” only hours after its Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, was
sunk.

According
to Kyiv, the ship was hit by Ukrainian missiles, demonstrating Ukraine’s
military prowess against a considerably more powerful adversary. However, according to Moscow, the ship sank following a fire.

After
withdrawing from the north following a huge attack on Kyiv that was thwarted on
the outskirts of the city, Russia is attempting to gain territory in the south
and east a month and a half after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of
Ukraine.

As the war-torn nation faces the second wave of the onslaught, Chechen chief Ramazan Kadyrov, who describes himself as Putin’s foot soldier, commented that Russia intended to take all cities, including Kyiv, after their push from the east. 

The attacks remain a grim reminder to the nation at war that no city is safe as Russian troops continue intensifying their focus on the Donbas region.