City film-maker caught up in the bombing of Lviv

A PLYMOUTH filmmaker has revealed how he was caught up in the shock bombardment of the Ukrainian city of Lviv last weekend, while promoting a music event aimed at raising money for injured service personnel.

- By ANDY PHILLIPS

Mark Sumner, who is one half of media company SW Productions, said he ended up spending hours in a bomb shelter after Russia launched a massive attack on the city, despite it being around 1,000km from the frontline.

Mark was in Lviv for a drum ‘n’ bass event, which raises money for several Ukrainian charities.

He had returned to his hotel with his girlfriend when Russia began the biggest bombardment of the city since the start of the invasion.

He told The Herald: “It happened at 3am - the hotel had a bunker, and the alarms were going off, telling us to go down to the bunker.

“It turned out [to be] the biggest attack Lviv had since the start of the war - it was 500 drones and 50 missiles.

“The talk is that it was retaliation for some of the stuff which has been going on with Nato which has provoked them.

“With winter coming in, they want to try and take out some of the infrastructure like heating and electrics.

“It was a massive shock for us, for them to hit the city itself, and they were hitting civilian and residential areas, sadly a family got hit as well and a 15-year-old girl died.”

Volodymyr Zelensky said there was ‘zero real reaction’ from the west to the surprise attack on Lviv, which is considered one of the safest in the country due to its distance from the frontline and lack of military infrastructure.

The attack killed six people and injured 18, but Mr Zelensky said there was ‘silence and a lack of strong action in response’ from western nations.