Russian missiles hit western Ukrainian cities Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk

With Russian ground forces continuing "to make limited progress," according to Friday morning's assessment from Britain's Ministry of Defense, Russia is increasing its air assault on Ukrainian cities. And Friday morning it expanded its targets to include the central-eastern city of Dnipro and Ivano-Frankivsk and Lutsk, both in western Ukraine.

Russia said it struck military airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk in "high-precision, long-range attacks," and local officials said missiles did strike the airfields or at least near them, killing several people. "Three missiles hit our military airfield. There is one dead," Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said on Facebook. He said the city's missile alert system "did not work at all," and "the military will work on this issue." The alert system also failed to go off in Ivano-Frankivsk.

Regional administrator Yuriy Pohulyayko said the strikes on Lutsk killed two soldiers and injured six more. Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk are far from Russia's main offensives in Ukraine, and the presumptive goal was to hit Ukraine's MiG-29 fighter jets or runways being used to resupply Ukraine with weapons.

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Russia hit three new cities on Friday, tweeted Ukrainian lawmaker Inna Sovsun. "That's what I tell journalists who ask if I'm in a safe city. There's no safe city here."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.