March 18 (UPI) — Russia unleashed an onslaught of shelling on several cities in Ukraine on Friday, including the capital Kyiv and Lviv, which has been sort of a hub lately for Ukrainians trying to escape the war.
There was heavy shelling early on Friday on the outskirts of Lviv in far western Ukraine, which has mostly avoided attacks until recently. Not far from the Polish border, Lviv has seen many thousands of refugees over the past three weeks as they try to cross over into the neighboring country to get away from the fighting.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said Friday that Russian missiles struck an aircraft repair plant in the city, although no casualties were immediately reported from the assault. Air raid sirens sounded after and three blasts detonated in the city.
Early attacks also targeted residential buildings in the Podil section of Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. The Russian military has drawn outrage and many calls for war crimes investigations for repeatedly targeting civilian centers like residential buildings, schools and hospitals.
It’s estimated that more than 3.2 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland since the fighting began on Feb. 24 — and the World Health Organization has said it’s confirmed nearly 50 Russian attacks on hospitals and health centers in the country, as well as a dozen deaths.
Russian shelling has also targeted other areas in Ukraine, from the southern port cities of Odesa and Mariupol to strategic locations like Kharkiv and Chernihiv.
In Kharkiv on Thursday, shelling touched off a major fire at a local market. Officials said a firefighter was killed by another Russian airstrike that targeted emergency responders as they fought the fire.
Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv has taken a relentless pounding from Russian forces over the past three weeks, including new assaults on Thursday. Officials said that at least 500 civilians in the city of 1.5 million have been killed by Russian attacks.
The main morgue in Kharkiv has exceeded its capacity, officials say — forcing them to store some of the dead, in body bags, in the courtyard ouside.
“We need body bags,” morgue director Yuriy Nikolaevich said, according to The Washington Post. “There are no coffins left in the city.”
In Chernihiv on Thursday, north of Kyiv, an American man who was living temporarily in Ukraine was killed by Russian shelling.
The Russian military has launched more than 1,000 missile attacks since the war started and has relied mostly on less sophisticated bombs, hoping to wear down Ukrainian defenses.
Peace talks have progressed slowly this week, but the two sides still appear to be far from ending the fighting. However, both sides have signaled hope that an agreement can be found.
Russian President Vladimir Putin complained in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Ukraine was trying to “drag the negotiations by making a series of new unrealistic proposals,” according to The New York Times.
Putin said Russia wants to find solutions “within the limits of its well-known principal approaches.”
On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He’s expected to caution Xi against providing any kind of significant aid to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
