Russian airstrikes hit western Ukraine

The Russian offensive targeted western 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, killing two soldiers and wounding six others, according to the head of the regional council Yurii Pohuliaiko. Lutsk is located northwest of Ukraine.

Ruslan Martsinkiv, the mayor of Ivano-Frankiivsk, ordered residents to go to bomb shelters after an air raid alert. The Ukraine's parliament said explosions were heard in both cities.

The 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.

Ukraine warned last Sunday that Russia was gathering forces to encircle Dnipro, home to about a million people.

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

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

A mile-long convoy of Russian tanks dispersing into nearby forests, and artillery moving into firing positions, raised concerns over a fresh attack on capital Kyiv, according to new satellite images.

More than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the war, according to the United Nations on the 16th day of the war.

In Ukraine, about 2 million people are displaced, according to Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees.

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