Russia Expands ‘Powerful’ Cruise Missile Strikes To Western City Of Lviv

Russia has reportedly hit hundreds of targets across Ukraine Monday in a significant expansion of its long-range strikes and show of air power. Significantly this includes multiple missile strikes on the major Western city of Lviv, which has for much of the war been considered relatively ‘safe’ compared to the eastern half of the country.

Ukrainian officials say at least seven people were killed and 12 wounded due to the strikes on Lviv, with NBC underscoring,  “The attack marked a deadly extension of Russia’s war into a city that has become a refuge for thousands fleeing from further east as well as a major supply and logistics hub.”

Video showing a fire in Lviv after a Russian cruise missile strike this morning. #Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineWar #war #UkraineUnderAttack #UkraineRussia #Russia #Ukrainian #Russian #Kyiv @Ukraine pic.twitter.com/SoDAiVg3gI

— Movie Xen (@MovieXen) April 18, 2022

The projectiles are being described as ‘powerful’ cruise missiles. “Five powerful missile strikes at once on the civilian infrastructure of the old European city of Lviv,” Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said Monday, adding: “The Russians continue barbarically attacking Ukrainian cities from the air, cynically declaring to the whole world their ‘right’ to kill Ukrainians.”

“Ukrainian officials said missiles struck three military targets and a fourth hit a tire-fitting garage,” NBC had reported further. Western journalists say they heard some of the strikes amid the sound of air raid sirens. The strikes were surprising given the relative quiet and the fact Lviv had so far since the Feb.24 invasion been largely sparred from being targeted by Russian forces. 

But last week’s sinking of the Russian Navy’s flaghship Moskva missile cruiser, after Ukraine fired a pair of Neptune anti-ship missiles (which the Kremlin officially disputes, instead saying the sinking was due to fire and munitions explosions), is being widely viewed as having changed the Russian military’s calculus and tactics. It appears more airpower and long-range missiles will be used. 

Meanwhile, more images have emerged online of the Moskva as it sank last Thursday and Friday, after initial photos showed it badly damaged and on fire, appearing online for the first time Sunday. A 3-second video has emerged…

This appears to be the first, unconfirmed video of the Moskva, Russia’s now-sunken Black Sea flagship, after it was hit by Ukrainian missiles.

It’s three seconds long and the last two are someone saying: “You fucking idiot! What the fuck are you doing?”

pic.twitter.com/K5xhKZ2TKi

— max seddon (@maxseddon) April 18, 2022

Following the fresh attacks on Lviv, the city’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, is saying there are now “no safe or unsafe locations in Ukraine,” stressing that the Russians are striking military and civilian locations alike.

“All the cities and villages are in the same situation,” Sadovyi said. “The aggressor is committing acts of genocide. They are killing innocent civilians” – he said, taking up language recently used by both Biden and Zelensky. 

The situation in Mariupol, in the southeast, also looks bleak for a couple thousand or more Ukrainian fighters said to be surrounding by the Russian military. “Ukrainian officials said the remaining defenders of Mariupol are encircled by Russian forces but have not surrendered the strategically important port city, as a deadly strike was reported in Lviv near the Polish border,” Bloomberg reports.