Multiple Russian cruise missiles rocked the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Friday morning, striking an aircraft repair facility adjacent to the city’s international airport, according to Ukrainian officials.
At least three blasts were heard near Lviv’s international airport around 6:30 a.m. local time, according to reports. Air raid sirens warned residents of an incoming strike about 15 minutes before the blasts. Video reportedly from Lviv showed plumes of billowing smoke coming from the vicinity of the airport.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said the repair facility was hit and not the airport itself, according to a report.
The Ukrainian military said the plant was struck by Russian cruise missiles launched from the direction of the Black Sea. The missiles were likely launched from heavy strategic bomber aircraft, according to the Ukrainian military.
Explosions were heard in Lviv (the West of Ukraine) this early morning, fires were seen on the outskirts of the city, the Adviser to the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported. The video by eyewitnesses. pic.twitter.com/qgHzjyf6HU
— Toronto Television / Телебачення Торонто (@tvtoront) March 18, 2022
The Danylo Halytskyi International Airport is Ukraine’s second-largest airport and is approximately 4 miles from Lviv’s city center and less than 50 miles from the Polish border.
RUSSIAN MORALE ‘FLAGGING’ AND TROOPS DISILLUSIONED IN UKRAINE, PENTAGON SAYS
Smoke can be seen rising from the Direction of the International Airport in Lviv. pic.twitter.com/GpWLxBHn2u
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 18, 2022
The Russian military first began directing airstrikes in western Ukraine on March 11, when the cities of Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk were hit by “high-precision, long-range attack[s],” according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
On March 13, more than 30 people were killed after dozens of Russian cruise missiles hit the Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping and Security outside Lviv.
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Russian forces have launched more than 1,000 missiles in the three weeks since the invasion, according to the Pentagon. A senior U.S. defense official has previously told reporters that a significant majority of the launches occurred in the eastern part of the country.
The international community is paying close attention to how close the fighting comes to Poland, given Poland’s status as a NATO member. NATO members, throughout the crisis, have repeatedly provided weapons to the Ukrainian military and Ukrainian forces have successfully stopped many of the lines of Russian attacks outside city centers they’re trying to conquer.
NATO has actively sought to stay out of the war from a literal standpoint, hence their stance, which the Biden administration agrees with, against the implementation of a no-fly zone over Ukraine because it would require shooting anything down over Ukrainian airspace, which would expand the conflict.
If Russia were to attack Poland or another NATO country, every NATO member is obligated to view it as “an attack against them all,” which would bring them into the war anyway. Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that they stand by Article 5, the bylaw that requires the response.
