Russia strikes Lviv playground, debris falls onto Kyiv residential building as drones attack Ukraine
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia struck a playground in the city center of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi reported on Jan. 15.
No casualties were reported as a result of the Russian drone attack, according to preliminary information, he said in a post to Telegram.
"The blast wave shattered windows in nearby buildings — including (a nearby) Polytechnic Institute and residential buildings," Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi reported.
Sadovyi said that the targeted playground was near a monument to early 20th-century Ukrainian right-wing militant Stepan Bandera and noted that Russia struck a "symbolic place" that "the aggressor fears the most."
An air raid alert was first issued for Lviv Oblast at 6:09 a.m. local time and ended at 6:51 a.m. local time.
Meanwhile, in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district, debris fell onto the roof of a residential building as a result of a Russian attack, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said.
Russia regularly strikes Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure as it continues to wage its war against Ukraine.
Overnight on Jan. 8-9, Russia pounded Ukraine with missiles and drones, killing at least four people and injuring 25 others in Kyiv, knocking out electricity for hundreds of thousands while disrupting heat supplies as temperatures fell.
On the same night, Russia fired its new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile at Lviv, the Russian Defense Ministry said, calling the attack "retaliation" for an attempted Ukrainian drone strike on one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's residences, a claim Kyiv has denied.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assessed that Ukraine did not target the residence, U.S. officials told CNN on Jan. 1.
Russia is "going all in" to destroy Ukraine's energy infrastructure after the second mass attack in less than a week, Deputy Energy Minister Mykola Kolisnyk said on Jan. 13.
The Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel, and Irpin were reportedly left without power and running water following Russian strikes. Emergency power outages were also implemented in Kyiv and parts of Kyiv Oblast, Ukrenergo reported.
