Russia launched a rare daytime drone attack in Ukraine, causing dozens of casualties – National
A Russian drone strike in broad daylight in Ukraine killed three people, injured dozens and set fire to a building in the city center of Lviv on Tuesday, officials said, following a bombing that killed five people overnight.
More than 550 drones were launched into Ukraine during the day, Ukraine’s military said, a sudden change from Russia’s usual strategy of launching similar large-scale airstrikes at night during its more than four-year-old war.
It followed an earlier attack overnight in which hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles were fired. In total, Russia has launched almost all long-range drones in Ukraine since Monday evening, Kyiv said.
There is no immediate comment from Russia.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking in his night speech via video, said that the scale of the attack shows that pressure must be applied to Russia.
“The scale of this attack clearly shows that Russia has no real intention to end this war. And considering that Russia is helping the Iranian regime to carry out strikes in the region, the conclusion is clear,” he said.
“Without more and stronger pressure on Russia, without visible losses to them in Moscow, there will be no desire to withdraw from the war or return to peace.”
Video footage posted online showed the drone entering an old building near a church in the historic center of Lviv, which is 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Polish border, and Warsaw said it had shot down a warplane.
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22 people were injured in the city, officials said.
The Russian invasion affects the UNESCO World Heritage site
The attack shocked the residents of Lviv, which is closer to Vienna than the nearby working areas on the other side of Ukraine. Although it has seen fatal bombings, it is less common than in other major cities.
Resident Tetiana Kachkovska saw a drone flying past the fifth floor window of her workplace.
“My hands were shaking, my legs were shaking,” he recalled. “You can’t get used to this.”
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said the apartment building was hit by a second punch. Debris from the third fell on the road.
“Russia is attacking a populated city in broad daylight,” wrote Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in X.
Lviv regional governor Maksim Kozytskyi said part of the Bernardine monastery in the historic center of Lviv, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was damaged.
In another city in western Ukraine, Ivano-Frankivsk, a national guard soldier and his 15-year-old daughter were killed in a strike, according to regional Governor Svitlana Onyshchuk.
He said he had attended the birth of his daughter at a nearby maternity hospital a few days ago. Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv said that the windows of that hospital were blown out, but no one was injured inside.
Vinnytsia Governor Natalia Zabolotna said one person was killed and 13 injured in her district, southwest of Kyiv.
Air defense planes used drones throughout the day near Kyiv.
Officials in the western region of Ternopil said two power plants were attacked.
Moscow denies it targeted civilians, although its attacks have killed thousands since it launched in February 2022. It says Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure is a legitimate target because hitting it would reduce Kyiv’s ability to fight back.
Ukraine has also targeted Russia’s energy system, particularly oil refineries, depots and transportation facilities.
Earlier overnight attacks killed five people across Ukraine and caused power outages in Moldova, where parliament declared a 60-day power emergency.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 34 missiles and 392 drones overnight and that 25 missiles and 365 drones were downed or downed.
Two people were killed and 12 injured, including a five-year-old child, near the eastern city of Poltava, a regional official said.
Zelenskiy said damage was reported in 11 regions and issued a new request for allies to provide air defense weapons.
He has repeatedly warned that Kyiv, whose main supplier of air defense systems against ballistic missiles is the United States, will face a shortage of missiles while Washington focuses on the US-Israel war in Iran.
