Russian drone attack on Lviv in west Ukraine sparks inferno and kills 1
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a massive drone attack on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv early Tuesday, burning down a warehouse said to house humanitarian supplies and killing one man, Ukrainian authorities said.
It was one of at least three deadly attacks in different cities.
Ukraine intercepted most of the 30 Shahed drones overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said. But drones that got through air-defense systems sparked an inferno at the industrial storage facility, Gov. Maksym Kozytsky said.
The United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine condemned the drone strikes and said they had burned down a charity’s warehouse that contained vital relief supplies. Denise Brown said the attack violated international humanitarian law protecting workers, facilities and supplies.
“Attacks impacting humanitarian assets have escalated throughout the year and ultimately impact those who are suffering the horrific consequences of the war,” Brown said. “Direct attacks or indiscriminate attacks are strictly prohibited. International humanitarian law is not an option; it is an obligation and must be upheld.”
In other Russian attacks, a guided aerial bomb killed three civilians in Kupyansk, a city in the eastern Kharkiv region, said regional Gov. Oleh Sinegubov.
An artillery strike in Kherson in the south struck a bus, killing a police sergeant and wounding two men, said Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs. That strike also torched a warehouse.
Six Ukrainian deputy defense ministers have been fired following the dismissal two weeks ago of their boss in a procurement corruption scandal.
The developments in the war front came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in New York to address the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council before going to Washington on Thursday to meet with U.S. lawmakers and President Biden.
Zelensky has continued to drum up funding and support for new weapons as the counteroffensive Ukraine launched in June approaches what could be its final weeks before wet weather slows progress. Ukraine has made small advances but no major breakthroughs.
Meanwhile, other allies pledged money and weaponry at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, who attended the meeting, said the 31 M1 Abrams tanks promised by the United States will soon begin arriving in Ukraine, as was expected.
Norway said it would donate approximately 50 tracked cargo carriers to Ukraine.
In a statement Tuesday, Norwegian Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said the carriers would help get supplies to areas without roads.
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