Death toll after rocket attack on Ukrainian city of Lviv rises to 10

Kiev, Jul. 7, (dpa/GNA) – The number of dead after a Russian rocket attack on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv has risen to 10.

The 10th fatality – the body of a woman – was recovered from the rubble of an apartment building on Friday morning, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi announced on Telegram.

According to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, 42 people were injured, including three children, in the missile attack in a residential area on Wednesday night.

The upper floors of a large apartment block with several entrances were completely destroyed by the missile strike, as could be seen on videos. According to official reports, a total of 35 buildings were damaged.

A two-day period of mourning was declared in the city.

Sadovyi spoke of the heaviest attack on the civilian infrastructure of Lviv since the beginning of the full-scale Russian war on Ukraine more than 16 months ago.

Russia attacked Lviv with Kalibr cruise missiles, which were fired from the Black Sea, the Ukrainian air force announced. The air defence had been able to destroy seven out of 10 Russian missiles, it said.

Lviv is only about 70 kilometres east of the border with Poland. The city, which originally had 720,000 inhabitants, is also home to many refugees from the embattled areas in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian army, meanwhile, claimed further successes in fighting to retake areas around the Russian-held city of Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk.

“In the area of Klishchiivka, they have had a partial success and are consolidating the positions achieved,” Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Andriy Kovalev said on Friday, according to a statement.

Klishchiivka to the south of Bakhmut has important high ground, but according to Russian sources, the Ukrainians have not been able to capture it so far.

The Ukrainian military is also exerting pressure on Russian troops north of Bakhmut, the statement added.

The spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern forces, Serhiy Cherevatyi, said on television that Ukrainian units had shifted the front line by 1 kilometre.

Bakhmut was captured by Russian troops in May after months of fighting. The town, once home to more than 70,000 people, was completely destroyed in the process.

Meanwhile, reports that the United States will soon deliver controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine faced mixed reactions internationally.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva condemned the plan, noting that the international Convention on Cluster Munitions has sought to ban the weapons. The US, Russia and Ukraine have not signed the convention.

“Cluster munition scatter small bomblets over a wide area,” said Marta Hurtado, OHCHR spokeswomen. “They kill and maim people years later after the end of a conflict.”

German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit noted that Germany has signed the treaty to ban the weapons but nonetheless expressed understanding for US deliveries of the weapons to Ukraine.

“We are sure that our US friends did not take the decision to supply the respective munitions lightly,” Hebestreit said.

“Ukraine uses munitions to protect its own civilian population,” Hebestreit added. “So we should also remember that Russia has already used cluster munitions on a large scale in a war of aggression against Ukraine that violates international law.”

US military spokesman Pat Ryder on Thursday said the US is considering sending certain types of cluster munitions but did not confirm reports that cluster munitions would be included in the next aid package.

“I would note that the Russians have already been employing cluster munitions on the battlefield,” Ryder said.

Ukraine has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion for more than 16 months. In early June, Ukrainian troops began a counteroffensive, but progress has been slow.

GNA