Russia targets western cities in Ukraine for first time

This was Russia’s first attack on western cities in Ukraine since the declaration of war

The Russian offensive has targeted the western part of Ukraine for the first time, with airstrikes near airports in the cities of Ivano-Frankiivsk and Lutsk.

Four rockets were dropped on Lutsk’s military airport, which killed two soldiers and injured six others, according to the head of the regional council Yurii Pohuliaiko. Lutsk in is the northwest of Ukraine.

Ruslan Martsinkiv, the mayor of Ivano-Frankiivsk, in the country’s southwest, ordered residents to head to bomb shelters following an air raid alert. Ukraine’s parliament in a statement said that explosions were heard in both the cities.

Also, the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro was hit by three missiles, killing at least one person, the state emergency services said, adding that the strikes were close to a kindergarten and a residential building.

Last Sunday, Ukraine had warned that Russia was gathering forces to encircle Dnipro, home to about one million people.

The Russian defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konasenkov on Friday announced that Vladimir Putin's troops have taken out two military airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk out of action by launching a high-precision, long-range attack.

He also said that Russian forces had destroyed 3,213 Ukrainian military installations since the declaration of a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

This map shows the extent of Russia’s war in Ukraine (Press Association Images)

Meanwhile, new satellite images showed a mile-long convoy of Russian tanks dispersing into nearby forests and with artillery moving into firing positions, raising concerns over a fresh assault on capital Kyiv.

On the 16th day of the war, the United Nations said that more than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the onset of the assault.

“We also estimate that about 2 million people are displaced inside Ukraine,” UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi tweeted.

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