Russian missiles strike aircraft repair plant in Lviv but no casualties, says city mayor Andriy Sadovy

Lviv’s mayor Andriy Sadovy says several missiles struck an aircraft maintenance facility

Russian missiles struck an aircraft repair plant in Ukraine's western city of Lviv near the civilian airport on Friday, mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

The mayor added that several missiles struck the aircraft maintenance facility, destroying buildings but there were no casualties reported.

At least three blasts were heard near the airport during the early hours of the day. A cloud of thick grey smoke was seen billowing across the city’s sky near the airport around 7.30 am local time.

According to Ukraine’s military, the plant was struck by cruise missiles launched from the direction of the Black Sea. It added that the type of missile was likely Kh-555, which are launched from heavy strategic bombers.

Two of the six that were launched were shot down, the Ukrainian military claimed.

Lviv, located about 43 miles from the Polish border in the west, had been largely spread from the incessant shelling by the Russian troops since Vladimir Putin declared war on 24 February. The city’s population, meanwhile, has swelled by nearly 200,000 as people from the eastern part of the country have sought shelter there.

Explosions were also heard and smokes were seen in the Podil area of the capital Kyiv, according to Reuters. One person was killed when parts of a Russian missile hit a residential building. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said 19 people were injured including four children.

In the besieged southern city of Mariupol, rescue workers searched for survivors in the ruins of a drama theatre that served as a shelter when it was blown apart by a Russian airstrike.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he was thankful to US president Joe Biden for additional military aid, but he would not get into specifics about the new package.

The Ukrainian government is hoping to evacuate civilians through nine humanitarian corridors from cities and towns on the front line of fighting on Friday, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

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