ERR in Ukraine: Lviv region heavily hit in overnight Russian airstrike
Five people were killed and Ukraine's power grid was damaged in a massive overnight Russian missile and drone strike at the weekend, hitting nine regions.
"Aktuaalne kaamera" went to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, the hardest hit area, to investigate.
The village of Lapaivka is essentially a suburb of Lviv, where, early on Sunday morning, a Russian missile strike killed an entire family — four people in total, including a 15-year-old girl. Two other local residents were seriously injured in the same strike.
The location lacks a bomb shelter.
"We have nowhere to hide. We don't go to the cellar. We do have a cellar, but it doesn't help," one local resident, Nadija, told ERR's Anton Aleksejev.
"Many people had their windows and doors blown in. My window was blown in too. I was very scared. Then there was such a blast wave that I can't even explain it to you," said Maria, another Lapaivka resident.
Galina, an elderly lady who lives in the neighboring house, had a lucky escape.
"I had a woolen scarf on my head, and something hit me on the head. At first, I couldn't comprehend. We ran into the street with the others. Then I felt the blood flowing. I put the scarf on the wound, and later I left it behind in the ambulance. They examined me there, and said I was more or less fine," she recounted.
Galina added she wants to relocate to nearby Poland, together with her cow, Gerda, unharmed in the blast. This might prove difficult, however.
"It was said to me that I wouldn't be permitted to cross the border with my cow. Of course, she's not a dog or a cat, you can't just stow her in a bag. People worry about their dogs and cats. To me, that's funny. This is an animal that can sustain you," she lamented.
Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone assault on Ukraine, killing at least five people and damaging civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities. The attack on the Lviv region was the largest to hit the area in the war to date, involving 140 drones and 23 missiles. Parts of the city were left without power. Elsewhere, one person was killed in Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, and 10 others were wounded. Tens of thousands were left without power.
Civilian infrastructure was also hit in Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Chernihiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Odesa, according to Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
Given Lviv's close proximity to NATO's eastern flank – it lies less than 70 kilometers from the Polish border – and in the context of last month's drone incursion into Polish and Romanian territory and the fighter jet airspace violation in Estonia, Poland scrambled aircraft to ensure air safety after the attacks.
NATO members in Eastern Europe, including Poland and Lithuania, heightened security after drone sightings and incursions, including a temporary airport closure in Vilnius after a couple of dozen weather balloons were spotted in the vicinity.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Johanna Alvin
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
