Day 54: Five ‘powerful’ missiles hit Lviv as Russia ups the ante

Five "powerful" Russian missiles struck the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Monday amid a blitz of explosions in different cities as Moscow upped the ante after seizing control of the strategic southern port of Mariupol.

The airstrikes came as the Russian military refocused its ground offensive on Donbas, while launching long-distance strikes at targets elsewhere, including the capital Kiev.

Residents in Lviv were quoted as saying that they could see thick clouds of grey smoke in the sky above residential buildings following the powerful blasts.

The city’s mayor Andriy Sadovy wrote on social media that emergency services had been pressed into service, but there was no immediate confirmation of any deaths or injuries in the Russian strikes.

The latest strikes in Lviv came as Russia intensified its military operation in and around the capital Kiev, targeting several facilities that produce military hardware.

"Five powerful missile strikes at once on the civilian infrastructure of the old European city of Lviv," Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said in a Twitter post.

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The head of Ukraine's national railways Alexander Kamyshin also took to social media to say that some railway infrastructure had been damaged, which could cause delays to services.

The city was in late March hit by a series of Russian strikes that targeted a fuel depot and injured five people. On March 18, bombings hit an aircraft repair factory near Lviv's airport. 

Russian cruise missiles on March 13 targeted a major military base, about 40 kilometers northwest of Lviv and close to the Polish border, killing at least 35 people and injuring 134.

In Kiev, meanwhile, a series of blasts were reportedly heard near the Dnipro River on Monday. Local authorities haven’t yet provided any official information on it.

At least 18 people have also been killed and more than 100 wounded in shelling in the past four days in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"This is nothing but deliberate terror: mortars, artillery against ordinary residential quarters, against ordinary civilians," he claimed late on Sunday.

Russia, however, denies targeting civilians and has rejected what Ukraine claims is evidence of atrocities staged to undermine peace talks. 

Battle for Mariupol

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal insisted that troops in the pulverized port of Mariupol were still fighting on Sunday, despite a Russian demand to surrender.

Ukraine’s PM says troops will ‘fight to the end’ against Russians in Mariupol

“The city still has not fallen. There

"The city still has not fallen," he said in an interview with the US-based ABC TV network, adding that Ukrainian soldiers continued to control some parts of the southeastern city.

On Saturday, Russia said it had seized control of urban areas, with some Ukrainian fighters remaining in the Azovstal steelworks overlooking the Sea of Azov.

Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, reported that street fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops had begun and he repeated a plea for people to evacuate.

"The next week will be difficult," he said in a post on his Facebook page. "It may be the last time we have a chance to save you."

Massive economic damage

About four million Ukrainians have fled the country, cities have been shattered and thousands have died since the Russian military operation began on February 24.

The economic damage has been significant. Shmyhal said Ukraine's budget deficit was about $5 billion a month and urged Western governments for more financial aid.

On Twitter, Zelensky said he had discussed ensuring Ukraine's financial stability and preparations for post-war reconstruction with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, quoting her as saying that support was essential for rebuilding efforts.

Ukraine pressed on with efforts to swiftly join the European Union, as officials completed a questionnaire that is a starting point for the EU to decide on its membership.

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The United States needs to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) if it wants to probe alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine, Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar said.

Ukraine and Russia have failed to agree on humanitarian convoys for the evacuation of civilians from war-affected areas for the second day, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

"For security reasons, it was decided not to open humanitarian corridors today," Vereshchuk said in a post on the Telegram app.

Putin announced a “special military operation” on February 24 to demilitarize Donetsk and Luhansk, largely populated by ethnic Russians, in eastern Ukraine. 

The United States and its European allies have dubbed the military operation “Putin’s land grab,” imposing a slew of harsh sanctions on Moscow.

Kremlin says it will halt the operation in Ukraine if Kiev meets Russia’s demands, including abandoning its ambitions to join NATO.  

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