Russian forces intensified attacks on Ukraine, firing at least two missiles into the city of Lviv. Lviv was previously considered a safe haven for fleeing Ukrainian families on March 26.
At least five people have been reported injured as of Mar. 27. One strike hit a fuel storage facility and resulted in a large fire, while the other damaged the city’s infrastructure facilities.
Lviv holds a strategic position, being located along Ukraine’s border with Poland, and as a result, it was spared from the fighting until this point. The attack comes one day after the Russian military announced that phase one of the invasion had completed and their forces would now shift attention to the disputed territory.
In a briefing held on Mar. 27, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Igor Konashenkov confirmed the targeting of fuel deposits and radio repair plants to cripple Ukraine’s weapons systems. Konashenkov also claimed that sea-launched weapons had targeted a missile storage facility southwest of Kyiv around the same time as the Lviv attacks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has continuously framed his invasion of Ukraine as a campaign of “denazification.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, has refused to meet with Russian representatives if “denazification” and “demilitarization” are intended to be discussed.
“We won’t sit down at the table at all if all we talk about is some ‘demilitarization,’ or some ‘denazification.’ For me, these are absolutely incomprehensible things,” Zelensky told independent Russian journalists on Mar. 27. Zelensky added that a previous meeting, during which Ukraine’s representatives asked Russian representatives not to use these terms, proved to have no effect.
The next wave of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegates begin in Istanbul on Mar. 29. Zelensky said he supports these talks “as long as there is a result.”
Zelensky continues to call for allies abroad to “rally and activate their support.” In a video message posted to social media on Mar. 26, Zelensky asked for access to just 1% of NATO’s tanks and planes and expressed that common security in all of Europe should be strengthened in response to Russia’s attacks. He lamented that Ukraine has waited an entire month without receiving these requests and raised questions over who exactly “is ruling the Euro-Atlantic Alliance.”
During a European speaking tour responding to Russia-Ukraine developments, U.S. President Joe Biden believed that Putin should no longer remain in power. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said at the end of a capstone presentation in Warsaw on Mar. 26.
White House officials have downplayed the remark following the presentation. “The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” said a White House official. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.” Another White House official said that the remark was not in Biden’s prepared notes for the presentation.
“This is not to be decided by Mr. Biden. It should only be a choice of the people of the Russian Federation,” Kremlin spokesperson responded to Biden’s remark.
Biden was preparing to give a speech in Poland, a NATO country, around the time of the Lviv attacks. “Don’t even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory,” Biden warned Russia during the speech. “American forces are not in Europe to engage in conflict with Russian forces. American forces are here to defend NATO.”
Ukraine is not a part of NATO, but Biden delivered a message of solidarity to the Ukrainian people. “My message to the people of Ukraine is … we stand with you. Period,” Biden said.
