NATO fighter jets scrambled over Europe as Putin strikes major city | World | News
Fighter jets (Image: Getty)
Vladimir Putin today launched a sickening attack on the historic centre of Ukrainian city Lviv.
One Iranian-designed Shahed drone – unleashed by the Russian armed forces – was seen slamming into a UNESCO listed site and exploding.
The onslaught led to NATO warplanes being scrambled in neighbouring Poland, just 45 miles away.
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“Due to the activity of Russian Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles in western Ukraine, Polish and allied air forces have begun operating in our airspace,” said a statement from Warsaw’s operational command.
“Fighter aircraft and a helicopter are operating, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been placed on maximum alert.”
Lviv, with its majestic Old Town and blend of Renaissance, Baroque, and Austro-Hungarian architecture, is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in Eastern Europe – but Russia today set out to reduce it to burning ruins.
The daytime strike was close to Polish – and NATO, in a challenge to the West.
The attack seriously wounded at least 13 people, according to the regional military administration.
A residential district of Lviv was also struck in a wanton hit on civilians, with fires ignited from the attacks.
Residents huddled in subways to avoid the brutal Putin strikes on civilians.
Meanwhile, a Russian war channel Trinadtsatiy boasted of the strikes: “In Lviv, it’s like a disco.”
Other drone attacks hit Ternopil, Vinnytsia, and Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine, where a maternity hospital was reportedly hit.
Earlier, NATO fighters scrambled over Poland for the first time today amid a missile threat from Putin’s savage attacks on Ukraine.
The strikes later today meant the overall total on Tuesday was one of worst strikes in recent months of the war.
Ukrainian war commentator Denis Kazansky said of the latest strikes: “Russian *******s are launching drone attacks on the historic centre of Lviv.
“UNESCO architectural monuments, medieval cathedrals, and residential buildings are being targeted in the attacks.
“Barbarians and ****ing terrorists. Worse than ISIS.”
He posted: “A reminder of who Ukraine is at war with.
“Russia is a rotten state, a barbaric state.
“They are incapable of creating or building anything great. And they see the meaning of their existence in destroying everything around them. “
The strikes show Putin has no intention of seeking peace in the war and is bent on continuing the conflict.
The Shahed drones have been supplied by Iran to Russia during the war in Ukraine.
