Police officer killed, 24 people wounded in bomb explosions in Ukraine’s Lviv

KYIV – One police officer was killed and 24 people were wounded after several explosive devices detonated ​at midnight in Lviv, in western Ukraine, the National Police said on Sunday, in ⁠an attack President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blamed on Russia.

“It ‌has been preliminarily established that ​homemade explosive devices detonated,” the police said on the Telegram messaging service.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, writing on Telegram, ⁠described the incident as a ‌terrorist act ‌and said a 23-year-old policewoman had died. Twelve people remained in ⁠hospital, two in serious condition, he said.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said ‌a woman had ‌been detained in connection with the investigation.

The police said that the first ⁠explosion occurred after a patrol ​crew arrived at ⁠the ​suspected scene of a shop break-in, while the second explosion occurred a little later.

Zelenskyy, speaking in his ⁠nightly video address, accused Russia of being behind the attack and said the ⁠perpetrators had been recruited online. Ukrainian intelligence believed Russia would “continue to do such things, real attacks on ⁠Ukrainians. There needs ‌to be more protection for ​people”, ‌Zelenskiy said.

The fourth anniversary of ​Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine falls this week.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus, Alex Richardson and Ron Popeski)