Russians Attack Lutsk City Near Polish Border

Explosions were reported in a number of Ukrainian cities that were never targeted before -- including Lutsk, near the Polish border -- on Friday.

The Russian strike in Lutsk targeted an airfield, Igor Polishchuk, the city’s mayor, said in a Facebook post.

The attack near a city close to Poland comes after the U.S. decided to send its Patriot missile systems to the country.

Ukrainian authorities claim Russia also bombed Dnipro – an inland city located on the river Dnieper and a major stronghold in central-eastern Ukraine, and in Ivano-Frankivsk in the south-west. Relentless bombardment of Kharkiv has also continued with schools and psychiatric hospital destroyed. There was a “deadly” airstrike on a maternity hospital in the port city of Mariupol.

“Ukrainian big cities are again subjected to devastating blows. The 1st explosions took place in Lutsk shutting down 2 boiler houses. Ivano-Frankivsk - 3 powerful explosions. Dnipro is also under attack. Russia's destructive war against civilians and major Ukrainian cities continues,” Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the Head of the President’s Office, said in a Twitter post.

On Thursday, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats met in the Turkish city of Antalya, however no agreement to end hostilities was reached.

Also read: As Airfields, Aircraft Incapacitated, Ukraine Getting Intelligence from NATO AWACS

A massive convoy outside Kyiv has split up and fanned out into towns and forests near the city, with artillery pieces raised into firing position in a potentially ominous movement of the Russian military, reports said citing new satellite imagery.

Russia using cluster bombs?

Meanwhile, the UN Liz Throssell, UN Human Rights Office spokesperson, said Friday that it received "credible reports" of several cases of Russian forces using cluster munitions in populated areas in Ukraine.

"Due to their wide area effects, the use of cluster munitions in populated areas is incompatible with the international humanitarian law principles governing the conduct of hostilities," Throssell told Geneva-based journalists.