FOUR Russian cruise missiles yesterday slammed into a strategic airfield in the city of Lviv as Vladimir Putin pushed his war west.
The warheads — weighing a combined 1,600kg and fired from more than 400 miles away — represented the first attack on the historic city.
6
6
6
It had been considered a relatively safe haven for diplomats, aid workers, refugees and journalists.
Britain’s Armed Forces minister James Heappey said the strike showed Russia was now widening its bloody assault on Ukraine.
Air raid sirens sounded across Lviv shortly after 6am as the Kh-555 cruise missiles zeroed in from Russian bombers over the Black Sea.
Two were shot down by air defence systems but four smashed into two repair plants for aircraft and buses, less than four miles from the city centre.
A fierce blaze broke out and fire engines and ambulances raced to the scene. But a major loss of life was avoided because staff had left minutes before. Amazingly just one person was injured.
One woman worker told The Sun: “I was called by my boss this morning and said just to wait here. This is obviously terrifying for everyone in the city but we have known for a while that the airport would be a target.”
A strike at an army base on Sunday, which killed 35 Ukrainian soldiers, was closer to the Polish border. But yesterday’s attack was seen as a significant development.
Though routes used to ship Western military aid to the front line are top secret, Lviv is considered a crucial staging post. It is also where the British Embassy is now located.
6
Most read in The Sun
With a population of 720,000, Lviv is the seventh-largest city in Ukraine and the biggest in the west of the country.
More than 200,000 refugees driven from their homes are also now in temporary accommodation there.
It has also become a makeshift home to the world’s media covering the war and for hundreds of foreign diplomats who have fled embassies in stricken Kyiv. In a poignant scene outside Lviv city council building, empty baby strollers were placed to highlight the number of children killed.
Meanwhile two people died and six were injured when buildings in the eastern city of Kramatorsk were shelled.
6
6
And in Kharkiv, shells hit Barabashova market — one of the largest in the world. One firefighter was killed and another injured raced when their crews came under more shelling.
Elsewhere in the city one person was killed and 11 injured when a college was hit.
Help those fleeing conflict with The Sun’s Ukraine Fund
PICTURES of women and children fleeing the horror of Ukraine’s devastated towns and cities have moved Sun readers to tears.
Many of you want to help the five million caught in the chaos — and now you can, by donating to The Sun’s Ukraine Fund.
Give as little as £3 or as much as you can afford and every penny will be donated to the Red Cross on the ground helping women, children, the old, the infirm and the wounded.
Donate here to help The Sun’s fund
Or text to 70141 from UK mobiles
£3 — text SUN£3
£5 — text SUN£5
£10 — text SUN£10
Texts cost your chosen donation amount (e.g. £5) +1 standard message (we receive 100%). For full T&Cs visit redcross.org.uk/mobile
The Ukraine Crisis Appeal will support people in areas currently affected and those potentially affected in the future by the crisis.
In the unlikely event that the British Red Cross raise more money than can be reasonably and efficiently spent, any surplus funds will be used to help them prepare for and respond to other humanitarian disasters anywhere in the world.
For more information visit https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/disaster-fund
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun news desk?
