Missiles cause multiple blasts in western Ukrainian’s Lviv

Witnesses said multiple explosions believed to be caused by missiles struck the western city of Lviv as Ukraine braces for an all-out Russian assault in the east

Witnesses said multiple explosions believed to be caused by missiles struck the western Ukrainian city of Lviv early Monday as the country was bracing for an all-out Russian assault in the east.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to “fight absolutely to the end” in strategically vital 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine​ l, meanwhile, where the ruined port city’s last known pocket of resistance was holed up in a sprawling steel plant laced with tunnels.

Lviv and the rest of western Ukraine have been less affected by the fighting than other parts of the country, and the city was considered to be a relatively safe haven.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Facebook that five missiles struck the city and that emergency services were responding to the blasts. He said more details would follow.

With missiles and rockets battering various parts of the country, Zelenskyy accused Russian soldiers of torture and kidnappings in areas they control.

The fall of Mariupol, which has been reduced to rubble in a seven-week siege, would give Moscow its biggest victory of the war. But a few thousand fighters, by Russia’s estimate, were holding on to the giant, 11-square-kilometer (4-square-mile) Azovstal steel mill.