Relentless Russia hits Kyiv and the outskirts of Lviv

The missiles near Lviv were launched from the Black Sea, but the Ukrainian air force’s western command said it had shot down two of six missiles

Russian forces pressed their assault on Ukrainian cities Friday, with new missile strikes and shelling on the capital Kyiv and the outskirts of the western city of Lviv, as world leaders pushed for an investigation of the Kremlin’s repeated attacks on civilian targets, including schools, hospitals and residential areas.

The early morning barrage of missiles on the outskirts of Lviv were the closest strike yet to the center of the city, which has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine and for others entering to deliver aid or fight.

Black smoke billowed for hours after the explosions, which hit a facility for repairing military aircraft near the city’s international airport, only six kilometres (four miles) from the centre. One person was wounded, the regional governor, Maksym Kozytskyy, said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Kateryna Vlasenko, 16, who covered her younger brother with her body during Russian shelling, in Kyiv. Pics/AP

The missiles were launched from the Black Sea, but the Ukrainian air force’s western command said it had shot down two of six missiles in the volley. A bus repair facility was also damaged, Lviv’s mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.  Lviv’s population has swelled by some 2,00,000 as people from elsewhere in Ukraine have sought shelter there.

Biden pressures Xi 

U.S. President Joe Biden was due to talk with Chinese president Xi Jinping later on Friday, in an attempt to starve Russia’s war machine by isolating Moscow from the one big power that has yet to condemn its assault.

Zelensky for Nobel Prize

Several current and former European politicians addressed the Norwegian Nobel Committee with a request to nominate Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, and for this reason extend the nomination procedure until March 31.  

. 130 people have been rescued so far from the bombed Mariupol theatre

. Bulgaria will expel 10 Russian diplomats after they were accused of carrying out “activities incompatible with their diplomatic status”     

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No. of attacks identified by WHO on hospitals and health facilities 

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