Russia Bombs Western Ukraine, Advance in the East

Air raid sirens sounded early Friday morning in the western Ukraine city of Lviv, with a stern voice over automated speaker phones demanding residents take shelter underground from Russian aerial bombardment.

“Take shelter, go below, do not take the elevator,” the audio system of one hotel, housing several Western journalists, blared.

The sirens, which continued into the daylight, weren’t without cause: Airfields in both Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, near Lviv, were hit with missile strikes. 

Soldiers and city workers in Lviv were busy in recent days protecting statues and placing other priceless historical objects into bunkers preparing for a possible attack on the city, which has already become home to thousands of refugees fleeing the war. The invasion, besides an ill-fated attempt by Russian paratroopers at the outset, has yet to truly touch the city. Though with the frequent air sirens, and preparation for an attack, the anxiety is palpable in Lviv.

Western Ukraine has remained relatively peaceful in the face of the relentless assaults happening in the east of the country. Russian forces surround Mariupol as bombers drop ordinance and missiles rain down on a city nearly reduced to rubble. Meanwhile, in Kharkiv, another key city in the fight for Ukraine, fierce fighting continues as talk of humanitarian corridors for refugees are continually broken or inhibited by Russian mines and artillery fire. 

But the strikes in the west might signify a turning of the tide for Moscow, as Russian forces continually (and slowly) advance in the face of a fearsome Ukrainian resistance that lacks the airpower to aid its troops in advanced positions. In the darkness of Friday morning, many people in Lviv did scramble to shelters, but others stayed in bed, ignoring what’s become an almost daily occurrence of air raid sirens that produce no strikes on the city.

Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous headline for this story said some cities in western Ukraine were bombed for the first time. Only Lutsk was bombed for the first time.