this is bbc news. the headlines: ukraine says russia has launched its anticipated large scale offensive in the east of the country. president zelensky has warned the battle for the donbas had now begun. military experts say moscow appears to be trying to weaken ukraine s combat abilities in the region before an all out assault. ukraine says missile strikes have killed at least seven people in the western city of lviv, which had largely escaped attack until now. three military warehouses and a car garage were hit in the assault. the european union has condemned what it called the indiscriminate and illegal shelling of civilians the south african government has declared a state of disaster in response to floods in kwazulu natal
raid signal went off. the soldiers are concerned this will be a secondary strike on the same target. ukrainian soldiers ordered us behind a concrete barricade. you understand you can t film this? nervous about us filming, one member of the territorial defense forces cocked his rifle. as he shouted at us to move back. it s interesting. you re wearing the flak jacket and the helmet. most civilians don t have that, right? just people around their neighborhood. you have to wear it, it is protocol. there was a bombing there or a missile strike and you want to be safe. what happened after that? so what happened was a series of further air raid sirens. the concern was after those first four were the russians going to hit again because three of the targets were military
administration really appeal? but first back to jim with what he personally witnessed in the city of lviv just today. it s unbelievable what you re seeing right now. listen, laura, you know, terror, it has been part of the russian battle plan since the start of this invasion. and russia brought terror to lviv today. multiple times those air raid sirens went off. and in the morning those sirens were followed by the booms, the explosions of missile strikes. reporter: a missile streaks across the sky over lviv in western ukraine. russian forces launching cruise missiles on multiple targets here. an auto repair shop, just as it was getting ready the open, with several employees on site. transformed into an inferno. also hit, what the regional military governor described as three military warehouses. this is the scene of one of the
we begin with matt bradley. reporter: late tonight, ukraine s president zelenskyy says russia s new assault against eastern ukraine has begun. the russian military began the fight for donbas for which they were preparing for a long time, zelenskyy says it follows new russian attacks rocking the relative safety of western ukraine. ukrainian first responders rushing to put out the flames after four missiles struck lviv. russia says it was targeting stockpiles of foreign weapons. the strikes killed at least seven people at least one child wounded. nbc s raf sanchez is there. reporter: authorities say the missiles took out a number of military warehouses, but also this civilian car repair shop, destroying dozens of vehicles, taking out these buildings, and leaving fire crews struggling to regain control reporter: russia striking hundreds of targets overnight. among them, the northeastern city of kharkiv. this woman mourning
now we can already state that the russian military began the fight for donbas for which they were preparing for a long time. a big part of all of the russian army is now concentrated on this offensive. no matter how many russian soldiers are being sent there, we will be fighting. and today, the war came to the previously safe city of lviv. you have seen many of our correspondents are reporting from lviv over the several weeks. ali velshi had a show from two weeks. the occasional aerate siren was heard in the background with valuable shoe from time to time. but today, four missiles hit locations in lviv including military warehouses at one of the locations on a repair shop at least seven people were killed and 11 people were injured. including this three year old