Move to expand humanitarian paths comes amid more shelling

The central Ukrainian city of Dnipro was hit by three airstrikes from Russia's military on Friday, in what is believed to be the first direct attack on the city.

Emergency services in the city said the airstrikes killed at least one person. The threat to civilians from the conflict has kept international attention focused on humanitarian corridors. Marking an expansion on this front, Moscow has agreed to open evacuation routes daily for civilians to reach Russia.

Aside from Dnipro coming under fire, shelling was reported on Friday in Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine.

Amid the indications that the conflict is affecting more regions in Ukraine, European Union leaders said on Friday they will continue applying pressure on Russia by devising a new set of sanctions to punish Moscow for its military operation while stepping up military support for Kyiv.

The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said the 27 officials taking part in a two-day summit outside Paris were looking to inject an extra€500 million euros ($500 million) into a fund for military aid to Ukraine, news agencies reported.

Earlier that day, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a briefing that its troops had targeted airports in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, some 250 kilometers south of Lutsk.

"Military airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk have been disabled," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

During the day, fighter aircraft and military air defenses shot down three Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopters and eight drones, Konashenkov said.

In other developments, satellite images showed that a Russian military column threatening Kyiv from the north had dispersed to new positions, private company Maxar Technologies said, "possibly in preparation for an assault on the capital".

Russian forces are encircling at least four major Ukrainian cities and armored vehicles have rolled up to Kyiv's northeastern edge.

Regarding the humanitarian corridors, Russian Defense Ministry official Mikhail Mizintsev said Moscow would open the daily channels from the port city of Mariupol, Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv for civilians to reach Russian territory. Kyiv has insisted that no evacuation routes should lead to Russia.

"Humanitarian corridors toward the Russian Federation will now be opened, without any agreements, every day from 10 am," Mizintsev said.

He also said the Russian army was working "closely with Ukrainian representatives" to open another three humanitarian corridors.

According to Russian state TASS news agency, about 222,000 people have been evacuated to Russia.

Also on Friday, the United States, together with the Group of Seven nations and the EU, was moving to revoke Russia's "most favored nation" status for trade.

Agencies contributed to this story.