Four Russian rockets hit a residential area around Lviv on Saturday, injuring five people, according to local authorities, and blowing up a school window. The blows, at an oil depot and an abandoned military plant, were among the deadliest to hit the city in western Ukraine, which has largely escaped attacks by Moscow forces on other Ukrainian cities. since the start of the Russian invasion last month. . As the blasts unfolded, US President Joe Biden told a crowd in neighboring Poland that Russia had “strangled democracy”. “My message to the people of Ukraine … we stand by you, period,” Biden said in a speech in Warsaw. “Hungary in 1956, Poland in 1956 and then again in 1981, Czechoslovakia in 1968 – Soviet tanks crushed the democratic uprisings, but the resistance continued until finally, in 1989, the Berlin Wall and all the walls of the Soviet Union sovereignty, they fell and the people prevailed. “ Mr Biden concluded by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin “could not stay in power”. The first attack in Lviv took place at around 4.30pm local time, shortly before Mr Biden spoke. Two rockets hit the oil storage facility, causing a large fire and sending black smoke rising into the sky. Maksym Kozytskyy, head of Lviv’s military administration, said there were no deaths but five people were injured. He did not say whether residential buildings were hit. Hours later, as Mr Biden was speaking, two more rockets hit the military factory in the Sihiv district of Lviv. Officials said the facility was no longer in use. No deaths or injuries were reported from the bombing, but the resonance from the collision caused damage to the windows of a school, according to Lviv Mayor Andriy Santovi. Patrons of the Grill on Castle restaurant watch smoke rise from the site of a Russian rocket attack on a local oil depot in Lviv on Saturday. Anton Skyba / The Globe and Mail “I think the attacker wanted to say ‘hello’ to President Biden,” Sadovyi told a news conference on Saturday. He said all the rockets had been fired from the Russian base in Sevastopol, Crimea, which is 1,300 kilometers away. Mr Sadovyi called on Western countries to send more anti-missile weapons to Ukraine. “Everyone needs to realize that the threat is extremely serious,” he said. “The sooner we acquire quality weapons and missile defense systems, the more secure our citizens will be in our cities and the sooner our victory will come.” Saturday’s attacks shocked many Lviv residents. Roman Nechyporuk, owner of Grill on the Castle, located right on a hill above the oil depot, said he was looking out of one of the restaurant windows when rockets hit and shook the building. “You can not even describe the moment,” he said. “It happened in a second.” Mr Nechyporuk said he had started coming to the restaurant more often to boost morale and keep employees in good spirits. Saturday’s attack, he added, had clearly shaken his staff. Ira Belia, who runs the restaurant, said the rockets sounded like heavy slabs hitting the floor. Her first instinct was to help patrons and people from a nearby park find shelter in the basement of the building. As soon as she lowered everyone safely down, her hands began to tremble. “This is the first time this has happened so close here,” he said. Mr Nechyporuk was also concerned about the proximity of the attack and what would follow. “This is the first time war has come so close,” he said. “For us, this is the closest, today, to war.” According to Reuters and the Associated Press
