At least 5 people have been killed and 34 injured in a missile strike on Ukraine’s western city of Lviv. Emergency services said that 7 people had been rescued from the rubble. Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi, said that the air force destroyed 7 cruise missiles aimed at the region. The roof and top floor of the building were destroyed in what Lviv’s mayor called the biggest attack of the war on civilian infrastructure. Lviv is far from frontlines and home to thousands displaced by war. The mayor declared a 2-day mourning period, writes The Guardian.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote alongside a Telegram video post showing the damaged building in Lviv saying “There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one”.
Slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine delayed Kyiv’s planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defenses in occupied areas including with mines, Zelenskiy said in a TV interview to CNN. Zelensky said he had told US and European leaders ahead of the counteroffensive that a lack of supplies would result in more casualties.
UN observers appealed for greater access to Europe’s largest nuclear plant, after Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations over a possible “catastrophic” act of sabotage at the Russian-controlled facility in Ukraine. The International Atomic Energy Agency said they have yet to observe any indications of mines or explosives but called for additional access to the plant.
Russia’s defence ministry said that Russian forces had struck 3 Ukrainian army groups near Bakhmut, amid conflicting reports about fighting in the area. The Reuters news agency could not independently verify the battlefield situation. The ministry made no comment in its daily briefing on reports that Russian forces have retreated from the village of Klishchiivka, south-west of Bakhmut, which a Russian-installed official in eastern Ukraine has denied.