One of the strikes hit a fuel storage facility, causing it to catch fire, and a later strike caused “significant damage” to the city’s infrastructure facilities, according to the city’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi.
Three powerful blasts were heard in the center of the city earlier, and plumes of thick black smoke could be seen rising in the distance. Air raid sirens rang out prior to the explosions. Maksym Kozytsky, the head of the Lviv regional military administration, later on his Telegram account reported three more explosions following the strike on the fuel depot, saying, “The air alarm remains.”
Lviv is a strategic Ukrainian city close to the Polish border that has largely been spared from the relentless bombardment seen across much of the country during the Russian invasion. It was a surprising attack, coming just a day after the Russian military said that the first phase of the conflict had ended and that it was shifting its attention to the disputed eastern parts of Ukraine.
The White House afterward said Biden wasn’t calling for regime change: “The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” a White House official said.
Earlier in the speech, Biden told the Ukrainian people: “We stand with you. Period.” Biden was briefed on the strike on Lviv before leaving his hotel for his speech, according to a White House official.
“Now in the perennial struggle for democracy and freedom, Ukraine and its people are on the front lines, fighting to save their nation, and their brave resistance is part of a larger fight for … essential democratic principles that unite…
Source : cnn
