Deadly strike hits Lviv as Zelensky reshuffles govt

Russia struck the city of Lviv in western Ukraine yesterday, killing seven people and damaging historical buildings in a rare attack hundreds of kilometres from the frontline.

The strike came as several Ukrainian ministers, including top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba, offered their resignations, part of a major reshuffle President Volodymyr Zelensky said would bring “new energy” to the government.

Russia has stepped up its aerial attacks on Ukraine since Kyiv launched an unprecedented cross-border offensive into Russia’s Kursk region last month.

“In total, seven people died in Lviv, including three children. The search and rescue operation is ongoing,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram.

The missile attack also wounded 40 people, damaging schools and medical facilities as well as buildings in Lviv’s historic centre, according to the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general.

The western city near the Polish border is home to a UNESCO world heritage site that covers its old town. It has been largely spared the intense strikes that have rocked cities further east.

But at least seven “architectural objects of local importance were damaged” in yesterday’s barrage, regional head Maksym Kozytsky said.

The assault on Lviv, which is sheltering thousands displaced by over two years of war, came a day after a Russian strike on the central city of Poltava killed 53 people, one of the deadliest single strikes of the invasion.

“I heard terrible inhuman screams saying ‘Save us,'” said Yelyzaveta, a 27-year-old resident of Lviv who rushed to shelter in her basement.

Others like Anastasia Grynko, an internally displaced person from Dnipro, did not have time to reach a shelter.

“The rocket hit our house. Everything was blown away. At the time of the explosion, I was somehow miraculously in the corridor, so I was not badly hurt,” she said.

The attack on Lviv was part of a wider barrage on Ukraine, with 13 missiles and 29 drones launched at the war-torn country, the air force said. The air force said it downed seven missiles and 22 drones.

Russia also said it was pressing on with its offensive in the country’s east, claiming the capture of the village of Karlivka, the latest in a string of territorial gains.

Ukraine yesterday was also in the midst of a major government reshuffle, as Zelensky seeks to boost confidence in the government two and a half years into Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine’s wartime Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba submitted his resignation on Wednesday, a day after six other officials including cabinet ministers said they were stepping down.