Russia launches airstrikes on Ukrainian city near Polish border.

Andriy Yermak, an advisor to the Ukrainian president, said the two airstrikes targeting the western city of Lviv, about 60 kilometers from the Polish border, took place yesterday with a two-hour interval. "This was an attempt to intimidate Ukrainian citizens and foreign diplomatic personnel in the city," he said.

The attack created large plumes of smoke in the city center, causing many Lviv residents to pour into the streets to observe. Lviv Governor Maksym Kozytsky said the raid injured five people, with no fatalities.

A column of smoke rises from the site of an airstrike in Lviv, western Ukraine, on March 26. Photo: AFP.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said a fuel depot caught fire after the first airstrike, while the second "caused significant damage" to a defense facility in a residential area. "The attack was like a greeting to President Joe Biden on his visit to Poland," Sadovy said at a press conference before it was interrupted by air raid sirens.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented on the information.

The Russian military previously announced that a military fuel depot in the Nikolaev province of southern Ukraine had been destroyed by Oniks cruise missiles. Earlier that same day, a Russian warship in the Black Sea fired four Kalibr cruise missiles, destroying another Ukrainian arms depot in the Zhytomyr province.

The Russian Air Force attacked 117 military targets in Ukraine over the past day, including an S-300 air defense missile system. Moscow declined to comment on reports that the Ukrainian Air Force Command in the city of Vinnytsia was attacked the previous day, only mentioning that several Ukrainian military command facilities were among the targets destroyed.

Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine on February 24th, and fighting has shown no signs of abating. The Russian military's advance is most favorable along the southern Ukrainian coast, where they have gained control of the major city of Kherson and several smaller targets such as Melitopol.

The city of Lviv is located in western Ukraine, near the Polish border. Graphic: NY Times.

Moscow intensified its offensives in western Ukraine from mid-March, after an initial phase focusing on targets in the north, south, and east of the country. Lviv is a transit point for millions of refugees from across Ukraine to neighboring countries.

Many Western countries have been rapidly transferring modern weapons, including thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, to Ukraine, primarily through the country's western border.