Written by Gleb Garanich and Andrey Peron
KYIV/LVIV (Reuters) – Russia fired missiles and drones at Kyiv and the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, not far from the border with NATO member Poland, the Ukrainian military said on Wednesday.
This comes just one day after Russia struck a military institute in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava with two ballistic missiles in the deadliest single attack of the war this year, killing 50 people and wounding hundreds more.
Reuters witnesses heard several explosions on the outskirts of Kyiv and Lviv on Wednesday in what appeared to be air defense shelling. Ukrainian military officials said Ukrainian defense units were engaged in repelling the attacks.
“Yes, it is very loud,” Lviv region governor Maxim Kozitsky said via the Telegram messaging app.
Kozitsky added that residential buildings were damaged in the city of Lvov, the administrative center of the wider region.
Neighbouring Poland on Wednesday activated aircraft for the third time in eight days to ensure the safety of Polish airspace.
“This is another very busy night for the entire Polish air defense system due to the significant activity of the Russian Federation’s long-range aviation carrying out strikes,” the command said in a statement on Channel X.
Russia has pounded Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones over the past 10 days, in what some Russian military bloggers say is Moscow’s response to Kyiv’s recent incursion into Russian territory.
Russia has yet to comment on the attacks on Poltava and Wednesday’s strikes on Lvov and Kyiv. Moscow has often said its strikes target Ukraine’s military, energy and transport infrastructure, not civilians.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram that all of Ukraine had been under air strike warnings since around 0100 GMT on Wednesday.
It also issued warnings of new attacks on the Lviv region, using missiles.