Russia attacks Lviv as President Biden visits Poland nearby

Lviv: Russian missiles fired more than 900 km away from Sevastopol, sitting on the Crimean peninsula, struck east of the city of Lviv wounding five on Saturday, reports say.

Most of the afternoon saw Russia's intensified attack with missiles reaching the Western Ukraine city of Lviv, a safe passage for refugees to Poland, just as the US President Biden was speaking in the neigbouring Poland.

Lviv's mayor Andriy Sadovyi quipped that with the strike the aggressor was saying hello to President Biden.

A public opera was being performed in front of a theatre here when first blast hit at about 4.15 pm, Indian Express reported.

The city for the first time since the war started heard the deafening sirens which people first took for false alarms. When the blast boomed into them, people scrambled down to shelters. Some braved blasts to shout "Glory Ukraine".

Untouched by bombs so far, the city was excited about the lifting of ban on alcohol in place since the war started. When the first blasts were heard, few took it seriously until they saw dark smoke rising from buildings, according to the report.

Immensity of the attacks were not sure initially, with many speculating that a telecommunication tower or oil deport had been hit in the city. Mayor Andriy took to Twitter asking people to stay in the shelters and not to share photos and videos as authorities were waiting for confirmation from Military Administration about attacks.

The military administration in the area shortly later confirmed of the attack but refrained from calculating the casualties. The information about the attack on the residential building and infrastructures had not been confirmed, authorities reportedly said.

Head of Lviv region's military administration Maksym Kozytsky later confirmed attack on a storage facility and a defence facility in the area. More details emerged from the briefing confirmed " quite serious" attack. A kindergarten in the area had its windows shattered in the blast. Authorities expressed the relief that " no one was killed' in the attack.

Lviv's mayor Andriy Sadovyi said that military infrastructure from the city was removed well before the war. According to the mayor it is the buildings that are damaged in the attack. Sadovyi accused Russia of aiming at civilians and asked the world to realize the threat was extremely serious. The mayor also said the sooner weapons and military defence were coming the safer would be citizens, adding that Ukraine's victory would thus be faster.

There is no gainsaying the fact that with attacking Lviv Russia was sending out message of going any length despite the place is close to Nato borders.

The attack on the Western city on Saturday afternoon, according to the report, marked the march of war to this part of Ukraine too. The attack came to the area just as the President Biden was visiting Poland nearby. Russian seems to be in no mood to relent.