Ukraine war: Russian missile strikes hit western city of Lviv

Huge fire seen as suspected spy arrested at strike location

Several missile strikes hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.

Local residents were to told to stay indoors as thick plumes of smoke rose above the city of 700,000, sometimes called the western capital of Ukraine.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, said five people were injured in two missile strikes that set an industrial fuel storage facility on fire. Residential areas were not hit, he said.

Governor Maksym Kozytsky reported “three more powerful explosions” around an hour later.

Mr Kozytsky said a man was detained on suspicion of espionage at the site of one of the attacks.

He said police found the man had recorded a rocket flying toward the target and striking it. Police also found photos on his mobile of checkpoints in the region, which Mr Kozytsky said had been sent to two Russian telephone numbers.

Thick smoke rises over Lviv after airstrike (Reuters)

Mayor Sadovyi said the later strikes caused “significant damage” to infrastructure. He told residents to stay indoors as an air raid siren rang out.

Witnesses told Reuters they saw smoke above the northeast side of Lviv.

Western Ukraine has mostly been quieter than elsewhere in the country during the war as Russian forces focus on the north, east and south.

A few Russian attacks have hit sites in the Lviv region, according to Ukrainian officials. An aircraft repair plant was hit last Friday, the mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi said.

Dark smoke and flames rise from a fire following an air strike in Lviv on Saturday (AFP/Getty)

Two weeks ago, Russian forces fired missiles on a military training center near Lviv – their most westward target at the time – and killed 35 people.

Since the beginning of the invasion, Lviv has become a safe harbor for some 200,000 displaced Ukrainians. Many have fled to the city on their way to seek refuge in countries to the west.

Saturday’s strikes on Lviv, which is 50 miles east of Ukraine’s border with Poland, came as US president Joe Biden was speaking in the Polish capital Warsaw.

Elsewhere in Ukraine on Saturday, Russian forces were reported to have entered the northern city of Slavutych and seized a hospital there.

A rocket flies over Lviv on Saturday (EPA)

Slavutych sits to the east of Chernihiv, a besieged city that Ukrainian authorities said had been cut off from electricity, heating and water.

Residents said food was running out and they feared “becoming the next Mariupol”.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had “blocked” Ukrainian cities including Chernihiv to tie down the Ukrainian military while Russia focused on taking control of the Donbas.

The extent of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (PA)

Moscow on Friday said the first phase of its military operation in Ukraine was “generally” complete and it would focus on “liberating” the eastern region, parts of which are held by Moscow-backed forces.

A senior US official said attempts to take the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, had stalled, and Russian troops appeared to have defensive positions around the city. He said air strikes on the capital were continuing.