Russian attacks on Ukraine kill six, Lviv warehouses set ablaze – officials

Firefighters work at a site of an industrial warehouse damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine September 19, 2023. (Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Lviv region/Handout via REUTERS)

KYIV – Six people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine on Tuesday, including a drone strike that set ablaze industrial warehouses and destroyed humanitarian aid supplies in the western city of Lviv, officials said.

They said one person was killed in Lviv, three were killed in an attack on the northeastern town of Kupiansk, and two people, including a policeman, were killed in shelling of the southern city of Kherson.

In Lviv, which is far from front lines, fire fighters tackled a blaze after three industrial warehouses were hit in an attack at around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT), emergency services said.

Photos released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine showed huge flames lighting up the sky above the burning warehouses.

Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi said the body of a man who worked at one of the warehouses had been found under the rubble, and that the warehouses stored windows, household chemicals and humanitarian aid.

Denise Brown, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said a warehouse used by the non-governmental organization Caritas-Spes has been destroyed.

“The vital humanitarian facility, which contained approximately 300 tons of relief supplies, was burned to the ground,” she said in a statement.

Lviv regional governor Maxim Kozitsky said Russian forces had launched 18 drones in the attack on his region, and that 15 had been shot down, including seven that were directly over the Lviv region.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched a total of 30 drones and one Iskander ballistic missile in attacks on Ukraine overnight, and that 27 of the drones had been shot down.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

Russia has repeatedly attacked infrastructure critical to Ukraine’s defense, energy system and agriculture.

Many civilians have also been killed but Moscow, which invaded Ukraine nearly 19 months ago, denies deliberately targeting civilians.

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