(NewsNation) — Lviv, considered Ukraine’s “cultural capital,” was a bastion of hope for many Ukrainians as a place that went unscathed from Russian attacks, until recently.
On the surface, Lviv has been a city able to be an epicenter of normalcy in Ukraine. Trams can be seen going through narrow streets,and cyclists wobble down cobblestones.
But at dawn on Friday, Russian airstrikes outside the international airport in Lviv made nearby buildings vibrate, shaking people’s sense of comfort as thick black smoke billowed.
One person died. Satellite photos from the strike show a destroyed repair hangar and two other damaged buildings.
It was the closest attack yet on the Western city, which had effectively been a crossroads for many Ukrainians fleeing some of the more war-torn regions of the country, such as the capital of Kyiv, Mariupol or Kharkiv. It has also been a haven for those entering to deliver aid or join the fight.
The war swelled the city’s population by around 200,000 people. Just days before the attack, thousands of newcomers were at the central train station, some of the many refugees heading west.
Hours after the airstrikes, though, Lviv residents were adapting. The airstrikes were without the shattered buildings and people fleeing under fire the world has seen through images coming out of other Ukrainian cities.
“In the morning it was scary, but we have to go on,” Maria Parkhuts, a local restaurant worker, told the Associated Press. “People are arriving with almost nothing, and from where it’s worse.”
A lot of Russian long-range missiles have been going after some of the airports in Western Ukraine.
Ukrainians said their estimation is that six ballistic missiles coming from the Black Sea are what was behind the attacks in Lviv.
“It’s war,” said Maxim Tristan, a 28-year-old soldier, of Friday’s attack. “It only makes us more motivated to fight.”
After the attack, Lviv activists lined up 109 baby strollers in the city’s square, each one representing a child that has been killed in the Russia-Ukraine war.