Russian missiles hit an aircraft repair plant in the Ukrainian city of Lviv (west) this morning, destroying the facility, Mayor Andriy Santovi said.
The operation of the factory had already been suspended and so the bombing did not cause any losses, he added.
“Several rockets hit an aircraft repair factory. The building was destroyed. “The operation of the factory had been suspended before, so we have no casualties so far,” Mayor Santovi said via Facebook.
In a separate statement, the Ukrainian Air Force said that according to initial reports, the area was hit by four Cruise missiles, which were launched from the Black Sea, several hundred kilometers from there.
Two other Russian missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses before hitting the target, according to the same source.
The Ukrainian Air Force estimates that these were Kh-555 missiles, which are usually fired by Russian strategic bombers.
The mayor of Lviv said rescue teams were operating at the scene. Earlier, he assured that it was not the airport that was hit, but the district where it is located.
A French Agency reporter reported that he saw a thick column of smoke rising in the area and heard the sirens of police cars and ambulances moving towards the site where the explosions were heard.
Lviv had remained relatively unharmed by the war until recently, but on Sunday, the Russian army bombed a training base on its outskirts, killing at least 30 people, according to Ukrainian authorities. The blow, according to the Ukrainian armed forces, was made with missiles like those that hit the factory today.
A video released shows a dense cloud of smoke rising on the horizon.
Big missile strike this morning on what appears to be Lviv international airport. Closest attack yet on the city.#Lviv pic.twitter.com/3JmmBZNiJI
– Mark Burrows (@MarkWBurrows) March 18, 2022
At the same time, separatist leaders in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine complained that the Ukrainian armed forces had bombarded five communities in their self-proclaimed People’s Republic in the past 24 hours, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
A ferroalloy plant was damaged and its electricity supply cut off, a spokesman for the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic said, according to the agency. Eighteen homes and a nursery were also damaged by the strikes, he added.
This information cannot be independently verified
The head of the Ukrainian military forces in the Kiev region said that his forces had now launched a counterattack.
As he said, the Ukrainian army is conducting operations to clear the suburbs of Kiev from Russian forces.
An explosion was heard in the north of Kiev this morning, and then smoke rose in the sky, an eyewitness told Reuters.
There is currently no official information about the incident.
President Volodymyr Zelensky assures that his country’s forces retain control of key areas
Ukrainian forces retain control of several key areas of the country that Russian forces continue to try to seize, he said today. President Volodymyr Zelenskymore than three weeks after the start of the Russian offensive.
Ukrainian troops responded to any operation by Russian units, the head of state said during a recorded message that was uploaded to the Telegram platform in the early hours of the morning.
He assured residents of cities such as Mariupol (southeast), Kharkiv (east) and Chernihiv (north), which are under siege by Russian troops, that Ukrainian forces would not abandon them.
He also promised businessmen a reduction in bureaucracy and interest-free loans in the midst of the war.
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