[1/4]Firefighters work at the site of an industrial warehouse damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine on September 19, 2023. Press service of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service in Lviv region/Handout via Reuters Obtaining licensing rights
KYIV (Reuters) – Russia bombed three industrial warehouses in a drone strike on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv early on Tuesday, causing a massive fire and killing at least one person, local officials said.
Lviv Governor Maxim Kozitsky said firefighters were tackling the blaze and a 26-year-old man had been taken to hospital. City Mayor Andrei Sadovy later said that the body of a man who worked in a warehouse was found under the rubble.
Emergency services said the fire spread over an area of 9,450 square meters (11,300 square yards) after an attack that occurred around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT).
“I want to emphasize that these are ordinary industrial warehouses. Nothing military was stored there,” Kozitsky said via the Telegram messaging app.
He added that Russian forces launched 18 drones in the attack and 15 of them were shot down, including seven that were directly over the Lviv region.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched a total of 30 Iskander drones and ballistic missiles in attacks on Ukraine overnight, and 27 drones were shot down.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Moscow, which has carried out repeated air strikes on Ukraine since the large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s vital defense infrastructure, energy system and agriculture, but many civilians have also been killed. At least seven people were killed in July when a Russian missile struck an apartment building in Lviv, far from the front lines.
Moscow denied deliberately targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
(Reporting by Lydia Kelly in Melbourne – Prepared by Mohammed for the Arabic Bulletin) Additional reporting by Anna Proshnika; Edited by Christopher Cushing, Michael Perry, and Timothy Heritage
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