AP, Ukraine :
Russian strikes hit near airports Friday in the western Ukrainian cities of Ivano-Frankiivsk and Lutsk, far from Russia’s main offensive, possibly indicating a new direction in the war.
The mayor of Ivano-Frankiivsk, Ruslan Martsinkiv, ordered residents in neighboring areas to head to shelters after an air raid alert. The mayor of Lutsk also announced an airstrike near the airport. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
New satellite photos, meanwhile, appeared to show a massive convoy outside the Ukrainian capital had fanned out into towns and forests near Kyiv with artillery pieces raised for firing in another potentially ominous movement.
The photos emerged amid more international efforts to isolate and sanction Russia, particularly after a deadly airstrike on a maternity hospital in the port city of Mariupol that Western and Ukrainian officials decried as a war crime.
The U.S. and other nations were poised Friday to announce the revocation of Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status, which would allow higher tariffs to be imposed on some Russian imports.
