One dead and many injured after explosions in Lviv

Ukraine

One dead and many injured after explosions in Lviv

The large city of Lviv, located near the border with Poland, is rocked by explosions at night. Police officers are said to have been lured into a trap. The mayor speaks of terrorism.

There were two explosions in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, which, according to authorities, killed at least one policewoman and injured other security forces. “This was a terrorist attack,” Mayor Andriy Sadowyj said in a video on his Telegram channel. According to the authorities, the number of injured rose to 25, after initially saying 15 had been reported during the night.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko informed about the arrest of a suspect in the Lviv region, without giving details. Lviv Mayor Sadowyj said the arrested woman was a Ukrainian citizen. The police announced hours later that the person arrested was a 33-year-old Ukrainian woman who had made and planted the bombs herself on behalf of Russian secret services.

President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his condolences to the relatives of the killed policewoman – and said that everything necessary was being done to investigate the terrorist attack.

The policewoman who was killed was 23 years old, the national police said. No further details about the background to the incident were initially known.

The explosions occurred shortly after midnight. According to a statement from the public prosecutor’s office, security forces initially rushed to a shop near the old town of Lviv because of an alleged break-in. When they got there, the first explosion was triggered – and then a second one when reinforcements arrived shortly afterwards. Not all victims survived the attack, the Ukrainian national police said. According to Mayor Sadowyj, two cars were also damaged, including a patrol car.

The Lviv region is located in western Ukraine on the Polish border. The regional capital of the same name is only about 50 kilometers as the crow flies from the EU territory. Many internally displaced people also live there who have sought safety from the fighting in eastern Ukraine during the Russian war of aggression. Lviv is also a frequent target of Russian missile and drone attacks.