Russia air strikes target western Ukraine

Russian air strikes hit two western regions of Ukraine bordering Nato member Poland and other areas yesterday, killing three people and wounding more than a dozen, Ukrainian officials said.

Local media said the attacks were the largest air assault on the Lviv region since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

The fatalities were reported in the northwestern region of Volyn. Officials said an industrial enterprise in the regional capital Lutsk was struck in the overnight attack. Several people were also hospitalised, Governor Yuriy Pohulyaiko said.

Fifteen people were also wounded in the Lviv region, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. Six missiles damaged dozens of buildings and a kindergarten playground in and around the regional capital. Kozytskyi said the youngest victim was 10-years-old.

Sixteen missiles were shot down, the air force said.

Both Volyn and Lviv border Nato member Poland and are hundreds of miles from the front line, where Ukraine's military is fending off Russian troops in the nearly 18-month-old war.

Lviv city had been spared much of Russia's air attacks until July, when seven people were killed by a missile that slammed into a residential building near the historic centre.

The city has generally been seen as a safe haven from the conflict, with some government offices moving there and international NGOs using it as a base. It has also been a transit point for Ukrainian refugees en route to Poland and beyond.

"These are the parts of the country where millions of people are seeking safety and refuge after fleeing the horrors of Russia's invasion," Denise Brown, the United Nations resident coordinator in Ukraine, said in a statement.

"Russia's persistent attacks hitting essential infrastructure in populated areas cause immense human suffering."

At least two people were also wounded in the southeastern city of Dnipro, where Governor Serhiy Lysak said a business enterprise and a sports complex had been hit.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said civilian infrastructure including schools and a hospital had been damaged in a total of eight regions in yesterday's attacks, which the air force said involved at least 28 cruise missiles.

Meanwhile, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday that Ukraine's military resources were "almost exhausted", as Kyiv wages a gruelling counter offensive to recapture lost territory.

"Despite comprehensive assistance from the West, Ukraine's armed forces are unable to achieve results," Shoigu said at a security conference in Moscow.

"Preliminary results of the hostilities show that Ukraine's military resources are almost exhausted," he said.

He added that there was "nothing unique" about Western weapons and that they were not invulnerable to Russian arms on the battlefield.

Twenty-two Russian diplomats flew out of the Moldovan capital of Chisinau on Monday, leaving behind a skeleton staff as relations between the two countries deteriorated after Moldova last month ordered Moscow withdraw most of its delegation.

Moldovan officials have said the reduction of staff at the Russian embassy to 25 from 80 will establish parity with Moldova's embassy in Moscow.