- The Washington Times - Saturday, April 16, 2022

Russian forces resumed attacks on Kyiv and in western parts of Ukraine on Saturday shattering a period of relative calm in Ukraine’s capital amid Moscow’s pivot to the east.

Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and several were wounded in the second strike on Ukraine’s capital region in two days, adding that the city remains under threat from Russian strikes.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike was carried out by “air-launch high-precision long-range weapons” targeting an armored vehicle plant.

The strike follows warnings of attacks on Ukraine’s capital after Russian authorities on Thursday accused Ukraine of carrying out a cross-border airstrike in the Russian city of Bryansk that wounded seven people and damaged close to 100 residential buildings.

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the strikes, and the claims have not been independently verified.

Russia is also expected to retaliate for the sinking of its Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, on Thursday.

Moscow claims the ship sank due to a fire. Ukraine claimed to have hit the ship with two domestically-produced Neptune anti-ship missiles. The Pentagon backed Kyiv’s claim on Friday.

Further west, the head of Lviv’s regional military administration, Maksym Kozytskyy reported an attempted airstrike on the city by two Russian Su-35 aircraft launched from nearby Belarus. Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed four cruise missiles launched during the strike, Mr. Kozytskyi said on Telegram.

Lviv, a region near the Polish border, has been largely spared much of the heavy fighting since the invasion.

Russian forces also continued their onslaught on Ukraine’s east, carrying out attacks in Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv.

Fighting continues in Mariupol, a strategic Black Sea port city, where Russian forces have begun using long-range bombers to attack the city, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Mariupol has remained under Russian blockade for much of the war, though Ukrainian forces have continued to hold out despite dwindling numbers.

Analysts expect Russia to step up its offensive in Mariupol, as the Kremlin presses for control of a key land bridge between Russian-held territories and the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Maksym Kozytskyy, head of Lviv’s regional military administration.

—This story includes wire reports

• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.

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