"A second birthday": Lviv residents recount aftermath of Russian strike

Thirty-four people were injured in the attack on Lviv on the night of 29-30 July, including three children. Emergency workers have already rescued 12 people, including a child. People may still be trapped under the rubble, and the search-and-rescue operation continues.

Source: UP. Zhyttia reporting on what is known about casualties and the aftermath of the attack.

"Apartment blocks were damaged, with several floors partly destroyed by the explosions. Fires broke out but were quickly extinguished by firefighters. Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing, with early reports suggesting that people may still be trapped under the rubble," the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.

Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said two people are currently considered missing.

Among the first to help people after the strikes was Matvii Zasiadkovych, a cadet at the National Academy of Land Forces.

"There was a strike, and we got to the scene immediately and started helping people. We led most of them straight out onto the street – they were in a state of panic. Earlier, we helped rescue two people who were trapped on the fourth floor: a boy and his father," the man said.

Emergency workers rescued a father and his six-year-old son from under the rubble; they were among the first to be pulled out.

"They usually go to the bomb shelter, but this time everything happened so quickly... My daughter says: 'We had only just got up. We had not even gone into the room where the little one was. We went into the kitchen,' and in an instant they were separated," the boy's grandmother said.

Emergency workers also managed to rescue a 93-year-old woman from under the rubble of the five-storey building.

"As emergency workers were clearing the rubble, her closest relatives – her son and daughter-in-law – waited nearby. The elderly woman was alone in her flat on the top floor of the five-storey residential building, so every minute felt endless. Thankfully, she was rescued and is now receiving medical treatment," the State Emergency Service reported.

Emergency workers later pulled out an elderly man in a wheelchair. They also freed a cat from under the rubble, the media outlet Pershyi Zakhidnyi reports.

A blind couple also managed to escape from the damaged building on Paton Street.

"First of all, there was no panic. My wife is also blind. I didn't even manage to get out of the room when I was hit by a shower of glass. I was still under my blanket, then I jumped up, ran barefoot into the hallway and found my shoes. My wife had already put on her dressing gown too. We ran out immediately, but sadly we could not take our dog with us straight away because she did not respond. So we locked the flat and went downstairs. Our neighbours helped us get to the building next door, and that was where we got through those first moments.

The police came up to me just now, and I explained the problem to them. A young woman took me back into the flat, and we found the dog. She was very frightened and was hiding under a small table, but thankfully she was unharmed," Volodymyr Durniev told Suspilne. Lviv, a local branch of Ukraine's national public broadcaster.

The couple's daughter posted on social media that her blind parents had been given "a second birthday".

"Everyone survived. It's simply a second birthday for my parents," the young woman said.

Olha, a resident of the damaged building on Paton Street, described the Russian strike.

"I was asleep in bed when I heard this huge bang. The curtain was flapping hard against me and shielded me from the glass. Only the middle pane fell out, along with the plants and everything else – well, that is what happened. The kitchen was damaged too. All that's left standing on the balcony is my cabinet. There are no windows, nothing at all," the woman said.

Stepaniia, another resident of the damaged building, said she did not hear the air-raid siren because her windows were closed.

"As luck would have it, I had closed the windows and didn't hear the air-raid siren. I went to bed late, and then there was just this bang... I don't know what is happening. It is terrifying," the woman said.

Another Lviv resident said she did not go down to the shelter, even though she heard the air-raid siren. Instead, she crossed herself.

Background: Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi reported earlier that more than 20 residential buildings, as well as a school and two kindergartens, have been damaged in the city.

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