LVIV, Ukraine (Ukraine) — Russian missiles hit a fighter jet repair facility in Lviv early Friday morning, according to the city’s mayor.
The attack on the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant was the closest yet to Lviv, Ukraine’s westernmost city, which has served as a haven since Russia’s incursion began last month.
“The aircraft repair facility was struck by several missiles. The impacts obliterated its structures. Because active activity at the plant was halted in time, there have been no casualties to date “Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor, said.
Air raid sirens sounded throughout the city minutes before the hit. At daybreak, a column of smoke could be seen rising above the airport. The vicinity of the facility was still smoldering several hours later.
Russia fired six cruise missiles at the complex, two of which were intercepted by Ukrainian defense troops, according to authorities.
“The missiles, which were launched from the Black Sea, were only partially intercepted. However, four of them collided with an aircraft repair facility “Lviv’s military administration is led by Maksym Kozytskyy.
Lviv State Airplane Repair Plant is described as Ukraine’s “top aircraft maintenance enterprise” on an outdated version of its website. The facility, which is run by the Ukrainian state-owned defense business Ukroboronprom, primarily services MiG-29 fighter jets, which are employed by Ukraine’s air force.
The strike on Friday was just over 4 miles from Lviv’s city center, the war’s closest approach to the western city. The facility is located on the outskirts of Lviv’s Danylo Halytskyi International Airport, which is a civilian airport.
Lviv has become a bulwark of relative normalcy in a country ravaged by conflict, as well as a sort of central station for humanitarian aid and refugees, with so much of the fighting concentrated in Ukraine’s eastern and southern areas.
Residents in the region told NPR that the idea of the violence spreading here is alarming.
We all heard the blasts and hurried into the bomb shelter,” said Yevhen Halakhov, a resident of a building near the airport, who added that he was awakened by screaming from family members in another room. Despite this, he stated as he pushed his grandson on a swing set a few hours after the strike that he had no intentions to relocate.
For the more than 200,000 individuals who have arrived in Lviv after fleeing unrest in other parts of Ukraine, the calculus may be different.
“We left Kyiv because it was too hot there, and instead came here. But it’s clear that we can’t stay here any longer since we have no idea what will happen next “Diana, a woman who only revealed her first name, added.
According to her, she and her daughter are sleeping with relatives at an apartment near the airport. But the early morning attack — “the entire building shook, the glass and the windows trembled,” she claimed — made her ponder fleeing Ukraine completely, as did 3 million other Ukrainians, according to the United Nations.
Russian missile strikes and shelling in Ukraine’s other cities, including the capital Kyiv, continued Thursday night and Friday early. Ukrainian authorities said that shelling killed at least ten people overnight in Kharkiv, which has been under near-constant assault since the invasion began nearly a month ago.
According to regional officials, residential complexes in Kramatorsk, a city in the Donbas area, were also struck by missiles.