LVIV/KYIV : Russia said on Monday it hit hundreds of military targets in Ukraine overnight, destroying command posts with air-launched missiles, while authorities were in the city. Lviv west, which had escaped heavy bombardment, said a missile attack killed seven. In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said it destroyed 16 Ukrainian military facilities in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions and at the port of Mykolayiv, in the south and east of the country.
It added that the Russian air force conducted airstrikes against 108 areas of concentration of Ukrainian forces and that Russian artillery hit 315 Ukrainian military targets overnight.
Motivated by Ukrainian resistance to the north, the Russian army refocused its ground offensive in the two eastern provinces known as Donbas, while simultaneously launching long-distance attacks on other targets. , including the capital city Kyiv.
It is now trying to take full control of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which has been besieged for weeks and this would be a major strategic prize, linking territory held by pro-Russian separatists to the east. East with the Crimea region that Moscow annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian authorities said the missile hit military facilities and a tire service point in Lviv, just 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the Polish border.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said seven people were killed and 11 injured. The explosion broke the window of a hotel where Ukrainians had been evacuated from other parts of the country, he added.
“Seven peaceful residents had plans for life, but today their lives have stopped,” the mayor said. Russia denies targeting civilians and denies what Ukraine says is evidence of atrocities, saying Ukraine orchestrated them to sabotage peace talks. Moscow calls its action, launched nearly two months ago, a special military operation aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine and destroying what it calls dangerous nationalists.
Western capitals and Kyiv accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of unprovoked aggression. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said troops at the crushing port of Mariupol were still fighting on Sunday, despite Russian demands to surrender.
“The city has not fallen yet,” he told ABC’s This Week program, adding that Ukrainian troops continued to control some areas southeast of the city.
Two captured British men who fought Ukrainian forces in Mariupol appeared on Russian state television on Monday and were asked to exchange them for pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who is being held by Ukrainian authorities. Hold.
It’s unclear how comfortably the two men – Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin – were able to talk freely.