Concerns are mounting that Russian invading forces are seeking to push into western Ukraine, after the region of Lviv was subjected to missile strikes fired from the Black Sea on March 18. Lviv lies 550km west of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv and its residents have been preparing for war for months.
The strategic importance of their city cannot be overstated. As mayor Andriy Sadovy repeatedly said: “Kyiv is the heart of Ukraine, but Lviv is the soul.”
Sadovy was referring to the city’s pivotal role in creating the modern Ukrainian nation. Lviv and the wider Eastern Galicia region (today Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions) have played a central role in the Ukrainian nation-building process since the second half of the 19th century. But the city’s history and importance – political, religious and cultural – far predate those tempestuous times.
