Russia sets up no-fly zone over parts of Ukraine

With NATO still refusing to grant Ukrainian President Zelensky’s wishes for a no-fly zone, Russia has moved to create one of their own.

According to a separatist official from the newly founded Donetsk People’s Republic, Russia has established a no-fly zone over Ukraine’s Donbass region. Along with the Luhansk region, Donbass is a part of Ukraine that Putin called independent before the violent assault began. In peace talks, Putin is demanding the two regions be granted independence from Ukraine.

The war, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is now in its fourth week. Russian troops have failed to take Kyiv — a major objective in their hopes of forcing a settlement or dictating Ukraine’s future political alignments — but have wreaked havoc and devastation.

The fighting has led more than 3 million people to flee Ukraine. The death toll remains unknown, though Ukraine has said thousands of civilians have died.

Here are some key things to know about the conflict:

WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE GROUND?

On Friday, missiles and shelling struck the edges of Kyiv as well as the western city of Lviv, close to Ukraine’s border with NATO countries such as Poland. The Ukrainian air force’s western command said that six missiles were launched at Lviv from the Black Sea, but that two of them were shot down.

The city’s mayor said the missiles hit a facility for repairing military aircraft near Lviv’s international airport, also damaging a bus repair facility. No casualties were immediately reported. The facility had suspended work ahead of the attack, the mayor said on the Telegram messaging app.

Early morning barrages also hit a residential building in the Podil neighborhood of Kyiv, killing at least one person, according to emergency services, who said 98 people were evacuated from the building. Kyiv’s mayor said 19 were wounded in the shelling, just north of downtown Kyiv.