Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces launched three missiles at Lviv and left five people injured in an apparent message to US President Joe Biden who was only 245 miles away visiting Poland.
Photos from Ukraine’s western city of Lviv showed a huge fireball in what was the first major attack in the city since the invasion started on February 24.
On Friday, Russia signaled that it was ‘scaling back its military ambitions to focus on areas claimed by Russian-backed separatists,’ the Daily Mail reported.
But two rockets later hit the outskirts of Lviv, around 40 miles from the Polish border, the news outlet reported.
A third missile strike was reported a few hours later by Lviv’s mayor, who said that the attacks ‘significantly damaged’ city infrastructure.
According to the city’s Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyy, the missile strikes left five people injured.
“There have been two rocket strikes within the (city) limits of Lviv,” he posted online. “Stay in shelters! Do not go out into the streets!”
21-year-old Taras, who lives only 6 miles from the affected site, said: “After that I heard other passers-by shout ‘missile’. Then I heard two explosions, one with a very loud boom that echoed in the sky and the other, with a weaker sound.”
Olga, who was only several kilometers from where the missile strikes hit, told AFP: “Very black smoke began to raise up. It was clear that something holding fuel had been hit. Ambulances, police cars and fire engines drove quickly towards the bombed site.”
245 miles away, Biden was visiting Poland where he called Putin a ‘butcher’ during a meeting with refugees.
The Kremlin immediately hit back at the US President’s description of Putin saying “a state leader must remain sober-minded.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Such personal insults are narrowing down the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current (US) administration. One should be aware of this.”
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