4.18.22
A series of Russian missile strikes on military infrastructure in Lviv on April 18 killed at least six people in the western Ukrainian city that has so far been spared fierce fighting in almost two months of war. Residents said they could see thick plumes of black smoke rising above Lviv after the explosion, while air-raid sirens sounded throughout the city. Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskiy said six people were killed and another eight, including a child, were wounded by four Russian missile strikes. He said three missiles hit military infrastructure facilities and one struck a tire shop. He said the infrastructures were “severely damaged” and that rescue teams were putting out fires caused by the strikes. Lviv and the rest of western Ukraine have been less affected by the fighting than other parts of the country and have been considered a relative haven. Multiple explosions were also reported in the capital, Kyiv, and the Dnipropetrovsk region early on April 18. Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne reported that two people were wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk attacks. Russia said that overnight its forces shelled more than 100 targets where Ukrainian military equipment and troops were concentrated.
Military experts say Russia is increasing its strikes on weapons factories, railways, and other infrastructure targets across Ukraine to decrease Kyiv’s ability to resist a major ground offensive in the Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland. But ahead of Moscow’s planned offensive, the continuing siege of Mariupol in Ukraine’s southeast is tying up Russian forces and slowing their advance elsewhere, Britain’s Defense Ministry said. “Concerted Ukrainian resistance has severely tested Russian forces and diverted men and materiel, slowing Russia’s advance elsewhere,” the ministry said in its regular update on April 18. It said Russian “commanders will be concerned by the time it is taking to subdue” the city, where the last pockets of resistance were still holding despite intense Russian attacks. The city has been devastated by weeks of Russian pummeling that caused “significant” civilian casualties and destroyed “large areas of infrastructure.” The ministry accused Russia of using similar tactics of all-out war on civilian areas in Ukraine that it deployed in Chechnya and Syria, despite Moscow’s claims at the start of its unprovoked invasion that “Russia would neither strike cities nor threaten the Ukrainian population.” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CBS on April 17 that Mariupol effectively doesn’t exist anymore because of the massive destruction by relentless bombardment.
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