Russian missiles have struck an area near the airport of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, the mayor says, while Japan and Australia imposed new sanctions on Russian entities as punishment for its invasion.
Western sources and Ukrainian officials said Russia's assault has faltered since its troops invaded on February 24, further dashing its expectations of a swift victory and the removal of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government.
Russia has relied heavily on missiles and shelling to subdue Ukraine's forces but has yet to secure any of its 10 largest cities.
At least three blasts were heard near Lviv's airport on Friday morning, with videos on social media showing large explosions and mushroom-shaped plumes of smoke rising.
Lviv's mayor, Andriy Sadovy, said several missiles has struck an aircraft maintenance facility, destroying buildings but causing no casualties.
The city has escaped significant fighting so far.
Despite battleground setbacks and punitive sanctions by the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown little sign of relenting.
His government says it is counting on China to help Russia withstand blows to its economy.
The United States, which this week announced $US800 million in new military aid to Kyiv, is concerned China is "considering directly assisting Russia with military equipment to use in Ukraine," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
President Joe Biden, who described Putin as a "murderous dictator", will make clear to Chinese President Xi Jinping in a call Friday that China "will bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support Russia's aggression", Blinken told reporters.
China has declined to condemn Russia's action in Ukraine or call it an invasion. It says it recognises Ukraine's sovereignty but that Russia has legitimate security concerns that should be addressed.
Japan and Australia announced separate measures sanctioning Russian individuals and organisations, including two oligarchs with links to Australia's mining industry, as well as Russia's state-owned arms exporter, its finance ministry and central bank.
The UN human rights office in Geneva said it had recorded 2032 civilian casualties in Ukraine - 780 killed and 1252 injured.
Some 3.2 million civilians have fled to neighbouring countries, the United Nations said.
A fourth straight day of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators took place on Thursday by videolink, but the Kremlin said an agreement had yet to be reached.
Rescuers in Mariupol, a southern port city, dug survivors from the rubble of a theatre that officials said had been hit by an air strike on Wednesday as civilians took shelter there from bombardments. Russia denies striking the theatre.
Mariupol has suffered the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the war, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in basements with no food, water or power. City officials say they are not able to estimate the number of casualties from the theatre.
Northeastern and northwestern suburbs of Kyiv have suffered heavy damage but the capital itself has held firm, under a curfew and subjected to deadly rocket attacks nightly.
A building in Kyiv's Darnytsky district was extensively damaged on Thursday. As residents cleared glass, a man knelt weeping by the body of a woman covered in a bloody sheet.
Viacheslav Chaus, governor of the region centred on the front-line northern city of Chernihiv, on Thursday said 53 civilians had been killed there in the past 24 hours.
© RAW 2022