Russia hits Ukraine's Lviv with cruise missiles, defense ministry says

Reuters

Posted at Mar 27 2022 05:39 PM

Smoke rises outside Lviv after a Russian airstrike, in Lviv, western Ukraine, 26 March 2022. Lviv Oblast governor Kozytskiy in a statement said three explosions were heard near Kryvchytsia and urged citizens to not reveal the locations on social media. Wojtek Jargilo, EPA-EFE
Smoke rises outside Lviv after a Russian airstrike, in Lviv, western Ukraine, 26 March 2022. Lviv Oblast governor Kozytskiy in a statement said three explosions were heard near Kryvchytsia and urged citizens to not reveal the locations on social media. Wojtek Jargilo, EPA-EFE

LONDON - Russia struck military targets in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv with high-precision cruise missiles, the Russian defense ministry said on Sunday.

Russia hit a fuel depot being used by Ukrainian forces near Lviv with long-range missiles and used cruise missiles to strike a plant in the city being used to repair anti-aircraft systems, radar stations and sights for tanks, the ministry said.

"The armed forces of the Russian Federation continue offensive actions as part of the special military operation," the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

The ministry showed video of the missile strikes in Lviv.

Officials in Lviv, just 60 km (40 miles) from the border with NATO-member Poland, said people had been wounded in the missile attacks.

Russia also used sea-based long-range missiles to destroy an arsenal of S-300 missiles and BUK anti-aircraft missile systems near Kyiv, the ministry said. Russian forces also destroyed a number of drones, it said.

Russia has started destroying Ukrainian fuel and food storage depots, meaning the government will have to disperse the stocks of both in the near future, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said on Sunday. 

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Edmund Blair)