Airstrikes by Russia’s military killed at least seven people and injured 11 more—including one child—early Monday in Lviv in western Ukraine, the regional governor said.
The deaths in Lviv were confirmed by regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy. He said four rockets were fired, striking three targets including several warehouses not used by Ukraine’s military and a service station near Lviv Railway Station.
The deaths are the first ones reported in the city since Russia’s assault on Ukraine started in late February. On March 13, Russia fired 30 cruise missiles at the Yavoriv military training base, outside the city of Lviv, killing at least 35 people and wounding 134.
Overnight blasts were also reported in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, in the north in Kharkiv and in Mykolaiv, near the Black Sea port city Odessa.
Kozytskyy said a preliminary investigation indicated the rockets that hit Lviv were fired from the direction of the Caspian Sea, an inland body of water that links Asia and Europe.
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Latest developments:
►Russia is creating separatist states and introducing the Russian ruble in occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday.
►The Russian military forcibly removed over 100 children from Mariupol, many taken from hospitals without parents, the Crimean Human Rights Group reportedciting Mariupol’s mayoral advisor Petro Andryushchenko.
US officials warn of impending Russian cyberattacks
White House officials have repeatedly warned that evolving intelligence suggests Russia may be exploring potential cyberattacks against the United States. Now, that possibility is all but certain, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly said Sunday.
“We have to assume that there’s going to be a breach,” Easterly said on “60 Minutes.” “There’s going to be an incident. There’s going to be an attack.”
Russia is known to have powerful cyber actors. US intelligence agencies and federal prosecutors have concluded that the Russian government sought to sway the 2016 presidential election. Recently, Microsoft said it disrupted Russian cyberattacks targeting Ukraine, the US, and European Union.
Lisa Monaco, US Deputy Attorney General, told Bill Whitaker on “60 Minutes” that Russian state actors are already looking for weaknesses in US cybersecurity and infrastructure.
“We’re talking military intelligence actors, deploying malware, malicious code, on thousands of computers in hundreds of countries,” Monaco said Sunday. “We’re seeing them deploy that code and take control of these computers. It’s like an army of infected computers that, with a single command, can be deployed to do everything from gathering information, stealing information, and sometimes to have destructive effect. “
Zelenskyy says Russian troops are torturing, kidnapping Ukrainians
In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops in southern Ukraine have been carrying out torture and kidnappings.
“Torture chambers are built there,” he said. “They abduct representatives of local governments and anyone deemed visible to local communities.”
Russia has come under increasing scrutiny as mounting evidence builds of military attacks against Ukrainian civilians in Bucha and other parts of Ukraine, leading US President Joe Biden to call Putin’s actions “genocide.”
“This is nothing but deliberate terror. Mortars, artillery against ordinary residential neighborhoods, against ordinary civilians,” Zelenskyy said.
Several European countries ban Russian ships from their ports
Belgium, Estonia, and Bulgaria are barring all Russian ships from their ports beginning Sunday. Their announcement comes the same day as Italy’s, as part of expanded EU sanctions announced earlier this month.
Ships already in Italian ports must leave immediately “after completing their commercial activity,″ according to a notice sent to port authorities throughout the country.
The bans apply to all Russian-flagged ships, including those that have changed their flag from Russia to any other nationality since Feb. 24, the date of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The EU has imposed five rounds of sanctions against Russia, including the banning of ships in its fifth round. Leaders are still weighing a ban on Russian oil, with many European countries dependent on it.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism