‘Let Ukraine strike back’: Birmingham urges West to help after Russian strike claims at least 50 lives

London: A Russian air attack on Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, not far from the border with NATO member Poland, has killed three people, injured more than 30 and destroyed historic buildings in the heart of the city.

It came just a day after Russia hit a military institute in the central town of Poltava with two ballistic missiles in the war’s deadliest single attack this year, killing at least 50 and wounding about 200.

Ukraine’s military officials said its defence units were engaged in repelling the attacks.

“Yes, it’s very loud,” Lviv Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Russian army launched a missile attack on an educational institution and a nearby hospital in Poltava on Tuesday.Credit: Red Cross Ukraine

Residential buildings have been damaged in the city of Lviv, which is the administrative centre of the broader region, Kozytskyi added.

Neighbouring Poland activated aircraft for the third time in eight days to ensure the safety of Polish airspace.

“This is another very busy night for the entire air defence system in Poland due to the observed activity of the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation carrying out strikes,” the Command said on X.

Russian missile struck an educational institution and a hospital in Poltava on Tuesday, in an attack likely to heap pressure on the West to allow Kyiv to hit back.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said two ballistic missiles struck the buildings and another on a campus of the Military Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technologies which was also partially destroyed.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeated his calls for more Western air defences.Credit: AP

The attack was one of the worst since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022 and the deadliest since early July when air strikes hit a children’s hospital in Kyiv and civilian infrastructure in several cities across Ukraine.

Zelensky repeated his calls for more Western air defences and urged allies to allow their long-range weapons to be used for strikes deeper into Russian territory to protect Ukraine – something the US and allies currently bar Kyiv from doing.

“Long-range strikes that can defend against Russian terror are needed now, not sometime later,” Zelensky said in a statement after the strike. “Every day of delay, unfortunately, means more lives lost.”

In London, Australia’s opposition foreign spokesman Simon Birmingham said the West had let too many “sliding doors moments” in this war pass by, including debates about enforcing a no-fly zone, delivering longer range missiles, and providing air combat capabilities.

Opposition foreign spokesman Simon Birmingham with Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defence Dmytro Klimenkov (right) and Deputy Defence Minister for Euro Atlantic Integration Oleksandr Balanutsa in Kyiv last week.

“While strong support has prevented Ukraine from falling, as so many initially predicted, excessive caution has potentially prevented it from prevailing,” he told the Council on Geostrategy, in a speech that coincided with the 85th anniversary of England and France declaring war against Nazi Germany.

“Ukraine must be given ability to effectively defend itself by striking at Russian military targets.”

Birmingham, who last week was the first senior Australian MP to visit Kyiv in more than two years, said while nobody wished to see the war broaden, it was neither acceptable to “just let it drag out until the last Ukrainian”.

“Ukraine needs to be given the ability to effectively defend itself by striking at Russian military targets. This can only enhance Ukraine’s chances of victory.”

Poltava, about 110 kilometres from the border with Russia and about 350km south-east of Kyiv, is home to more than 280,000 people and serves as a key military hub, with airfields and training facilities. It also sits on a main road connecting Kyiv to the second-largest city of Kharkiv.

Videos shared on Ukrainian and Russian social media channels showed a seven-storey building with a gaping hole through most of the top floors in one wing, and windows and walls blown out in other wings.

Photos showed multiple bodies on the ground in an area strewn with rubble and covered in dust.

Russian officials confirmed that Russian forces had launched a missile strike on the military institute in Poltava.

Kyiv wants to use US Atacms, British Storm Shadow and French Scalp missiles, all of which have ranges and capabilities beyond most of Ukraine’s own weapons, to strike military targets inside Russia and weaken its ability to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure and terrorise the population.

But the Biden administration has refused to avoid taking steps that would be seen by Russia as a major escalation.

Fighting has intensified over the past month, with Russian forces advancing in heavy battles in eastern Ukraine, while Kyiv’s troops have mounted their first large-scale cross-border assault into a Russian region, for which Moscow has vowed to retaliate.

Last week Ukraine was pummeled with the heaviest bombardment to date, and on Monday (Kyiv time) ballistic and cruise missiles targeted Kyiv, causing loud explosions.

The whole of Ukraine was under air raid alerts since about 10am Wednesday (AEST), Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram.

Ukraine also targeted Russia with more than 158 drones during the weekend, damaging an oil refinery near Moscow and a power station.

With Reuters

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