On Tuesday, the mayor in western Lviv, Ukraine confirmed via social media that Russia had launched a missile strike, causing blackouts across the city of over half million people.
The Russian campaign against Ukraine was largely stopped in the eastern Donbass region during the summer, and the attack on Lviv represents a significant expansion west. Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced Monday a “massive strikes” against Ukraine. He did this in response to a truck attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge. This bridge connects the occupied Crimea in Ukraine to Russia. In 2018, the bridge was completed. It prevents Ukrainian ships sailing in the Sea of Azov to enter the Black Sea. This is a serious blow to commerce in Mariupol, Berdyansk and other port cities.
While the Ukrainian government does not claim responsibility for the bridge attack that Russia claimed killed three civilians in Russia, accounts of the Ukrainian government on social media openly praised the attack. The bombing was not carried out by any other group or individual.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi published on Tuesday a Telegram post confirming Russian missile attacks on his city.
“Missile Attack on Critical Infrastructure Facility in Lviv. According to Ukrinform Ukrainian state media, Sadovyi said that part of the city has been “blacked-out” again. According to the outlet’s claims, Lviv residents are suffering hot water shortages because of damage to a critical infrastructure facility.
Kyiv stated that Moscow used missiles, as well unmanned aerial vehicle in airstrikes which began in the morning. (Elmurod Usubaliev/Anadolu Agency via Getty)
Reuters reported the update from Sadovyi as well. They claimed that around 30% of Lviv doesn’t have power.
Tass, a Russian news agency, reported the same situation for the city. They stated that damage had been done to two energy facilities servicing Lviv by unspecified “explosions”.
Russia invaded Ukraine first in 2014. In 2014, Russia colonized the Crimean Peninsula and provided support to two pro-Russian separatist groups within the Donbass. They declared themselves the “people’s republics” of Donetsk & Luhansk. Putin “annexed the two “people’s republics,” along the Ukrainian regions Zaporizhzhia (Kherson) in a ceremony that he called for the collapse of the West in late Sept.
Lviv, which is 40 miles from the Polish frontier, was not the scene of the conflict until March. It happened after Putin announced a “special operation” in order to “de Nazify” Ukraine. He wanted to overthrow the administration of President Voloydymyr Zelensky. The election was free and fair. As many of the refugees fleeing war-torn Eastern Ukraine traveled to Lviv in search of refuge, humanitarian organizations were concerned about the attack. International media organizations used the city to provide safe bases from which they could report on the ongoing hostilities.
The Russian government has not challenged the legitimacy and results of the 2019 Ukrainian presidential elections. Yanukovych’s successor Petro Poroshenko lost to the “”proRussian”” Zelensky. However, it claims that the ouster pro-Russian ex-President Viktor Yanukovych was an “coup” and every president after his departure are dictators.
Russia began attacking Lviv in March. It targeted an airport and a place used for the repair of Ukrainian military aircraft. The strikes ended in large part as the war returned east before this week.
The Lviv bombings are a retaliation against the Russian truck bomb that struck the Kerch Strait Bridge. Russia claimed it did little damage to the crossing’s structural integrity. Putin announced Monday that he would be launching a major bombing campaign against the Ukrainian government during a meeting of the Russian Security Council.
According to the Kremlin translation, Putin said that “”This morning, at a proposal of the Defense Ministry, and in accordance the plan of Russia’s General Staff, an enormous strike was launched using long-range precision aircraft, sea, and land-based weapon against Ukrainian energy, military, and communications facilities.”” Russia will respond to terrorist attempts on its territory by being as harsh and severe as the Russian Federation. That should be obvious to all.””
Putin accused the Ukrainian government of the bridge bombing. He said that Kyiv had actually “”put itself on the same level with international terrorist organizations, and the most odious among them.””
The Russian Armed Forces confirmed Tuesday that the Russian Armed Forces had launched bombings in Ukraine to dismantle its electric infrastructure.
According to Sputnik Russian propaganda outlet, Igor Konashenkov (a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry), “Today the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued conducting massed strikes using high precision, long-range aerial and sea-based weapon at military command and control facility and the energy system of Ukraine.” “The strikes have achieved their goal. All the targets were reached.”
Sputnik reported, citing Ukrainian media that Russia launched more than 200 missiles over Ukraine’s entire territory in the last 24 hours.
According to Kyiv’s own reports, the attack on electric infrastructure caused substantial damage to its power network. Russian outlet RT claims that officials in Kyiv announced “rolling Blackouts” in an effort to make sure the city doesn’t run out of power within the week.
