Russian missiles struck an area near the airport of Ukraine’s western city of Lviv on Friday, its mayor Andriy Sadovy said, though he added that the airport itself had not been attacked.

Authorities are assessing the situation and will issue updates, he said.

Earlier, television station Ukraine 24 said at least three explosions had been heard in the city.

Writing on messaging app Telegram, Sadovy said he could not give a precise address of the targeted area ” but it’s definitely not an airport”.

A thick pall of grey smoke streamed across clear blue sky over Lviv’s airport in western Ukraine at 7:30am, an AFP reporter has witnessed.

Armed checkpoints turned motorists back from roads into the airport.

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Lviv is just 80km (50 miles) from the Polish border, well away from the main battle zones in the east and south.

The area had been spared from bombardment, but five days ago there was a similar attack on a military training facility at Yavoriv, 30km (19 miles) from Lviv.

BBC correspondent in Lviv said the area used to be considered a “safe haven”.

He said the shelling was possibly in an attempt by Russian forces to “cut off the supply of weapons into the country”, as major routes tend to run via Poland.

The Star