Ukrainian cities and infrastructure were hit by Russian airstrikes for a second day on Tuesday, as Moscow continues its wave of retaliatory attacks against Ukrainian cities, following the destruction of the Kerch Strait Bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to mainland Russia, which Moscow blamed on Kyiv.
The Lviv region in western Ukraine was hit by strikes that targeted the region's energy facilities, local officials said Tuesday, a day after Russia carried out a mass retaliatory attack on Ukraine.
"As of this moment, there have been three explosions at two energy facilities in the Lviv region," governor Maxim Kozitsky said on Telegram, with Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi adding that parts of the region's main city, also called Lviv, was without electricity.
In addition, missiles struck a school, a medical facility and residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, city council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said. The State Emergency Service said 12 S-300 missiles slammed into public facilities, setting off a large fire in the area. One person was killed.
The S-300 was originally designed as a long-range surface-to-air missile. Russia has increasingly resorted to using repurposed versions of the weapon to strike targets on the ground.
The morning’s air raid warnings extended throughout the country, sending some residents back into shelters after months of relative calm in the capital and many other cities. That earlier lull had led many Ukrainians to ignore the regular sirens, but Monday’s attacks gave them new urgency.
Monday saw the most widespread attacks for months -- at least 19 people have now been confirmed to have died in Monday's attacks, which also damaged significant amounts of critical infrastructure and affected water supplies and power around Ukraine.
People in the capital Kyiv are readjusting to a new reality of the threat of bombardment, after months without being hit by Russia - with Ukrainians in general being told to pay attention to air raid alerts and remain in shelters
The UN has said Russia's missile attacks would amount to war crimes, if they were deliberately targeted at civilians or civilian infrastructure.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin confirming that Monday's strikes were retaliation for Saturday's attack on the Kerch Strait bridge, the United States and other G7 industrialised countries are due to hold a virtual meeting later today to discuss their response to the attack.
