Russia's strike on Lviv kills seven persons

FE Team | Published: September 05, 2024 00:48:24

KYIV, Sept 04 (AFP/BBC): A Russian strike on Ukraine's western city of Lviv on Wednesday killed seven people, including three children, the interior minister said.
The attack comes a day after missiles hit the central city of Poltava in one of the single deadliest bombardments of Russia's invasion, which has stretched into its third year.
"In total, seven people died in Lviv, including three children," Internal Affairs Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram, upping the previously reported toll.
Sirens rang out over the city of Lviv before sunrise on Wednesday, according to Mayor Andriy Sadovy, who advised people to take shelter as air defences worked to down a barrage of missiles.
The missile attack wounded 40 people, the prosecutor's office said, and damaged residential buildings in the city's historic centre as well as schools and medical facilities.
President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced what he called "Russian terrorist strikes on Ukrainian cities."
He also repeated calls for Western partners to provide Ukraine with long-range weapons to "respond justly" to the attacks.
The western city of Lviv has largely been spared the worst of the fighting over the two and a half years of war, but last week, Russian strikes targeted its energy infrastructure causing outages, according to officials.
Ukraine's FM resigns as
govt reshuffle expected
Ukraine's Foreign Minister (FM) Dmytro Kuleba has stepped down from his role as part of a wide-ranging reshuffle of the Ukrainian cabinet.
Several Ukrainian officials also resigned from their posts on Tuesday, leaving some of the government's top jobs vacant, including the strategic industries minister in charge of weapons production.
The parliamentary leader of the ruling Servant of the People party said half of the cabinet would be changed in a major government reshuffle this week.
Mr Kuleba, who is the most senior of the ministers to resign, has been in post since March 2020.
MP Inna Sovsun told the BBC there were "no questions" about Mr Kuleba's efficiency and that she was not aware of any disagreements between him and President Volodymyr Zelensky.
However, Ms Sovsun said that in the absence of parliamentary or presidential elections which have been suspended due to martial law, "reshuffling the government is the best way to bring in new people, new ideas into the government which are very badly needed at the moment".
Those who handed in their resignations on Tuesday included strategic industries minister Alexander Kamyshin, justice minister Denys Maliuska, environmental protection minister Ruslan Strilets, deputy prime ministers Olha Stefanishyna and Iryna Vereshchuk, and the head of Ukraine's State Property Fund, Vitaliy Koval.
One of the president's most senior aides, Rostyslav Shurma, was also dismissed by presidential decree.