Ukrainian officials said Wednesday a Russian air attack killed at least seven people and injured more than 60 others in the western city of Lviv, which Moscow had only infrequently targeted before and is hundreds of kilometers from the front battle line.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said in a video posted on Telegram that the attack destroyed a building and damaged more than 50 structures, including schools and homes.
Among the dead were four people from one family, a woman and her three daughters, leaving their father as the only immediate survivor.
"We will not forgive the enemy and will take revenge,” Sadovyi said on Telegram. “They will feel what hell is like while they are still alive."
Russia has ramped up its aerial attacks on Ukraine since Kyiv launched an unprecedented cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk region nearly a month ago, the first foreign incursion into Russia since World War II.
Lviv, whose old town is a UNESCO world heritage site, is close to the border with Poland and is sheltering thousands of Ukrainians displaced by the 30-month war. The strike on Lviv came a day after a Russian missile attack killed 53 people in the central city of Poltava, one of the deadliest single strikes of the invasion.
Ukraine's air force said the attack on Lviv was part of a wider barrage of new strikes, with 13 missiles and 29 drones targeting the war-torn country. The air force said it intercepted seven of the missiles and 22 drones.
Wreckage from a downed missile fell on the central city of Kryvyi Rih, emergency services said, damaging a hotel and wounding six people.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called for more air defense systems and for long-range weapons to strike Russia in the wake of the attack. The weapons delivered by Ukraine's Western allies, including the United States and NATO members in Europe, often come with restrictions prohibiting their use against most targets located inside Russia.
In eastern Ukraine, Russia said it had captured the village of Karlivka, the latest in a string of territorial gains. Karlivka is about 30 kilometers from Pokrovsk, a major Russian target that lies on a key supply route for the Ukrainian army.
Ukrainian officials on Wednesday announced a new round of compulsory evacuations for children living in villages close to the front line in the region because of the deteriorating "security situation."
Russian President Vladimir Putin had said Monday that his army was making rapid advances in the Donbas that covers the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
"We have not had such a fast-paced offensive in the Donbas for a long time," he said.
Ukraine was also in the midst of a major government reshuffle on Wednesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks to boost confidence in his government.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba submitted his resignation, a day after six other officials including cabinet ministers said they were stepping down.
"We need new energy. And these steps are related to strengthening our state in various areas," Zelenskyy told journalists when asked about the changes.
Russian officials said Ukrainian attacks throughout Wednesday killed six people in territory it controls.
Ukrainian shelling killed three people in occupied east Ukraine, according to the Russian-installed Donetsk regional governor Denis Pushilin, and another three in a Russian border village in Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
