Deadly explosions in western Ukraine investigated as ‘terrorist attack’

By Victoria Butenko and Rhea Mogul, Daria Tarasova-Markina, CNN

Kyiv (CNN) — At least one person was killed and dozens more wounded in explosions that hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv early Sunday, in what authorities have labeled a “terrorist attack.”

A 23-year-old policewoman was killed in the attack, while a patrol car and a civilian vehicle were damaged, the prosecutor’s office said. About two dozen people were wounded, police said.

The blasts took place as police responded to an emergency phone call about a break-in at a store near the city center, according to Lviv’s regional prosecutor’s office.

The first occurred after police arrived at the scene, it said, and was followed by another after the arrival of a second crew.

Homemade explosive devices were used in the attack, which had been planted in rubbish bins, according to the Ukrainian National Police, citing preliminary investigations.

Lviv’s regional prosecutor’s office said it had launched an investigation into “a terrorist act that caused serious consequences.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that several people had been detained, including an individual suspected of carrying out the attack.

Police said a 33-year-old woman had been detained in the western city of Staryi Sambir, near the border with Poland. They said the woman was suspected of carring out the attack on the instruction of a handler in Russia.

Viktoria Shpylka was named by police as the officer who was killed in the attack.

“Her colleagues remember her as sensitive, bright and sincere. She knew how to support, listen and find a kind word even on the hardest of days,” police said. Shpylka, 23, had married a patrol officer last year, the statement said.

Biggest air attack in weeks

Zelensky said Sunday that Russia had used 50 missiles and nearly 300 drones in a widespread barrage against locations across Ukraine overnight.

The strikes targeted the capital Kyiv and six regions, from Sumy in the north to Odessa on the Black Sea. One person was killed in the Kyiv area, Zelensky said, and eight injured.

It was the largest number of missiles fired in one night since February 3.

CNN reporters in Kyiv said there had been multiple detonations around the capital overnight.

Zelensky said the Russian strikes were focusing on the country’s energy infrastructure, as well as railway and water supply networks.

“This week alone, Russia launched more than 1,300 attack drones against Ukraine, over 1,400 guided aerial bombs, and 96 missiles of various types, including dozens of ballistic ones,” Zelensky said.

“We need systems that effectively counter ballistic threats,” he added.

One Russian missile strike targeted a factory in northern Ukraine owned by US multinational Mondelez that makes snacks and chocolate.

“This is not a military target, but a factory that has operated since the 1990s, producing globally known brands, employing Ukrainians, contributing to our and American economy,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a X post.

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CNN’s Billy Stockwell contributed reporting.