Russia hits Lviv, prepares for assault in eastern Ukraine
Russian forces launched missile attacks on the western city of Lviv and pounded a multitude of other targets across Ukraine on Monday in what appeared to be an intensified bid to grind down the country鈥檚 defenses ahead of an all-out assault on the east.
At least seven people were reported killed in Lviv, where plumes of black smoke rose over a city that has seen only sporadic attacks during almost two months of war and has become a haven for civilians fleeing the fighting elsewhere. To the Kremlin鈥檚 increasing anger, Lviv has also become a major gateway for NATO-supplied weapons and foreign fighters joining the Ukrainian cause.
The attacks came as Russia continued building up troops and artillery in the east and south for the expected start of a new ground offensive in the Donbas, Ukraine鈥檚 mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland.
In other developments, a few thousand Ukrainian troops, by Russia鈥檚 estimate, remained holed up at a mammoth steel mill in Mariupol, the last known pocket of resistance in the devastated southern port city after seven weeks of bombardment. The holdouts on Sunday.
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