Lviv, which is only 60 kilometers from the Polish border, has thus far dodged the intense bombardment and fighting that have wreaked havoc on numerous Ukrainian cities closer to Russia since Moscow launched its invasion on 24 February.

Governor Maksym Kozytskyy reported that five persons were injured when two rockets struck a fuel store and two more struck a military factory. He previously said strong explosions in the eastern fringes of Lviv as a result of the strikes.

"Maintain shelters! Avoid venturing out into the streets!, "Immediately following the initial strike, he issued a warning.

The rockets fell as US Vice President Joseph Biden blasted Russian aggression and reaffirmed Ukraine of the US's unshakable support during a visit to Poland.

In his speech, Biden addressed the Russian people, urging them, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power."

The Kremlin retorted that such statements were not for the US president to make.

"That is not a decision for Biden to make. Russians elect their president "According to a spokeswoman.

According to a White House official, Biden was not advocating for "regime change" but instead making the point that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise authority over his regional neighbors.

"With today's blows, the aggressor sends greetings to President Biden, who is in Poland," Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said during a televised briefing, adding that Russia fired the rockets from Sevastopol in the Crimean peninsula it took in 2014.

The Russian authorities made no immediate comment on the Lviv attacks, referring to the invasion as a "special military operation" aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine.

The city officials did not specify the locations of the hits but stated that they destroyed essential infrastructure, set fire to fuel storage, and blew out the windows of a school building. According to the mayor, no residential buildings were damaged.

Witnesses in central Lviv reported seeing dense black smoke coming from the city's northeast side with a strong burning odor.

On the street, men clustered together to watch a column of the smoke rise behind an apartment building. Most inhabitants remained indoors, peering out from behind curtains as others rushed by on the road with their belongings.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, said the attacks demonstrated Russia's intention to frighten Ukraine and foreign diplomats who have transferred their embassies to Lviv due to the city's perceived relative safety in comparison to the capital, Kyiv.

"Ukraine should definitely not be intimidated by such crimes of the Russians, and I want to say to my Western partners once again - close the sky, show strength," he stated on Telegram.

This was about Ukraine's repeated requests for a no-fly zone, which NATO has consistently rejected.

Lviv had a pre-war population of approximately 717,000. Still, for the thousands of families fleeing the worst of the fighting in eastern, southern, and central Ukraine, it has become either a shelter within the country or a transit point for those exiting the country.

Two weeks ago, a salvo of Russian missiles struck a sizable Ukrainian base located 25 kilometers from the Polish border.