By Rostyslav Averchuk
Lviv (EFE).- Lviv, a Ukrainian city 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the border with Poland, is reeling from the first strike by Russian drones against its UNESCO-protected historical center, part of a massive daytime attack on various regions, including the “safer” western areas.
“Russia has already attacked our city dozens of times, yet this was the first time it targeted its very heart,” Mayor Andriy Sadovyi told EFE next to the damaged 17th-century Bernardine monastery complex, some 300 meters from the city council building.
“The enemy is targeting civilian homes and world heritage sites. They are barbarians. The world needs to know it,” Sadovyi underlined, as workers dismantled damaged elements of the targeted building.
The attack
Charred logs still lay on the ground the day after the attack, which caused explosions in two more locations across the city and left 27 people wounded. Yet the lavishly decorated baroque St. Andrew’s Church was already filled with visitors, and vendors had returned to the nearby market as the city began to shake off the shock.
As of Tuesday, hundreds of locals witnessed a Russian drone flying low over one of the busiest streets in the city, which is home to multiple hospitals and universities, en route to the city center.
“My colleagues were operating when someone exclaimed and pointed to the sky. The silhouette was unmistakable, the triangle of a Shahed,” cardiac surgeon Vitaliy Averchuk told EFE.
Moments later, the drone struck a three-storey residential building located meters from St. Andrew’s Church and adjacent to its belltower, sending a cloud of fragments flying across the busy square nearby.
Damaged heritage
According to the mayor, the most valuable stained-glass windows of the church were left unscathed thanks to the wooden panels that have covered them since the start of the invasion. Some windows were broken, however, and a team of architects told EFE they were documenting the damage for use in criminal proceedings against Russia.
UNESCO said it was “deeply alarmed” by the Russian strikes and pledged to support the authorities with assessments, protection measures, and emergency assistance.
Ukraine expects a stronger reaction, and its Institute of National Memory has called on the organization to exclude Russia from its membership due to its systematic attacks on Ukraine’s cultural heritage.
Lviv’s medieval city center has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998 for its unique blend of architectural styles and cultural influences from multiple ethnic and religious groups. It was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2023 after Russia intensified its aerial attacks and struck UNESCO-protected areas in other cities, including Odesa and Kyiv.
“Our city is so beautiful,” said 21-year-old Anastasia Ufan, a local who rushed to help residents of the damaged building. “I am afraid that the longer the war continues, the less there will be left for my foreign friends to see here,” added Ufan, who spent half a year studying in Spain.
Pain and resistance
The attack may be an act of vengeance by Russia for Ukraine’s strikes against its oil-exporting infrastructure, 37-year-old English instructor Zoreslava Tarakh told EFE, noting that while Ukraine targets the economy, Russia targets civilians.
“It pains me to see the city wounded, and the attack against the very center reminds us that nowhere is safe,” she admitted.
Tarakh considers that Russia seeks to demoralize Ukrainians with strikes that also hit central areas in other cities, even though most of the nearly 1,000 drones launched that day were intercepted.
In Ivano-Frankivsk, Tuesday’s strike killed a soldier and his 15-year-old daughter as they were leaving the maternity hospital where his wife had just given birth to their newborn daughter.
Despite the pain caused by the attack, Russia’s belief that it can break Ukraine’s resistance this way is deeply mistaken, Tarakh underlined, noting that Russia “is incapable of understanding Ukrainians” even after all these years of war. EFE
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