Ukraine suffered its deadliest day for nearly a month on Wednesday as Russia bombarded it with missiles, knocking out power for 10s of thousands of people.
The country's defence ministry said war monger Putin's invaders were attempting to increase the tempo of its offensive, with around 20 bombs launched from airspace above the Caspian Sea.
Officials said the weapons were fired “with the aim of damaging our country's transport infrastructure."
Lviv was among those targeted for the first time in around a month as Russia targeted railway stations and other supply-lines bringing urgent essentials from allies in the West.
Some of the weapons struck electrical substations, leaving terrified people waiting in the dark as the attacks intensified.
Six rockets were fired on the west of Ukraine, with two being shot down by the nation before they could hit their targets.
One 24-year-old victim was nearly killed when a bomb landed outside his home in Lviv.
The Mail Online reported him saying: “‘When I took off my helmet, I saw a rocket flying in my face. It fell behind a concrete wall, about ten metres from me. The garage I was standing near exploded.
“Only when I ran home did I notice that there were fragments in my leg.”
The flurry of attacks comes as Russia prepares to celebrate Victory Day on Monday, marking the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany.
There are fears President Vladimir Putin will use the occasion to declare victory in Ukraine or expand what he calls the "special military operation".
A declaration of all-out war would allow him to introduce martial law and mobilise reservists to make up for significant troop losses.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu justified the latest attacks by saying Lviv had been a gateway weaponry being sent around the country by Nato.
In the under siege nation’s latest update, they reported heavy fighting continues to rage at the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol- the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined southern port city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: "All of these crimes will be answered, legally and quite practically - on the battlefield."
A Kyiv official said: “With the support of aircraft, the enemy resumed the offensive in order to take control of the plant.”
He added the Russians were "trying to destroy Ukrainian units".
Ukrainian fighters earlier claimed enemy forces had begun storming the plant, but the Kremlin denied it.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the latest in Mariupol: "The order was publicly given by the supreme commander (Russian President Vladimir Putin) to cancel the storming (of the plant). There is no storming.
"We see that there are escalations associated with the fact that fighters are taking up firing positions.
“These attempts are being suppressed very quickly, there is nothing else to say at the moment.”
The United Nations announced that more than 300 civilians were evacuated on Wednesday from Mariupol and other nearby communities. The evacuees arrived in Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles to the north west, where they were receiving humanitarian assistance.
