Russian airstrikes struck near western Ukraine's airports on Friday as the military offensive expanded and invading troops maintained pressure on the capital Kyiv and the besieged port city of Mariupol.

According to Yuriy Pohulyayko, head of the surrounding Volyn region, the airstrikes on the Lutsk military airfield killed two Ukrainian service members and injured six others.

Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv said the strikes also targeted an airport near Ivano-Frankiivsk, where residents were ordered to shelter in place following an air raid alert.

Meanwhile, new satellite images appeared to show that a massive convoy outside Ukraine's capital had fanned out into towns and forests near Kyiv, with artillery pieces raised for firing in another potentially sinister movement.

The images surfaced amid renewed international efforts to isolate and sanction Russia, particularly in the aftermath of a deadly airstrike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, which Western and Ukrainian officials condemned as a war crime.

Ukraine's authorities announced plans to establish several evacuations and humanitarian aid routes with the assistance of the Red Cross. Their primary objective is to liberate those attempting to flee Mariupol.

The US and other nations were expected to announce the revocation of Russia's "most favored nation" trade status later Friday, allowing for the imposition of higher tariffs on certain Russian imports.

Undeterred by the sanctions, Russia continued its bombardment of the besieged southern seaport of Mariupol. At the same time, Kyiv braced for an onslaught, its mayor boasting that the capital had transformed into a fortress defended by armed civilians.

Three Russian airstrikes also struck the eastern industrial city of Dnipro early Friday, according to Interior Ministry adviser Anton Heraschenko. Meanwhile, Russian forces advanced toward Kyiv from the northwest and east but were repulsed from Chernihiv after Ukrainian fighters reclaimed Baklanova Muraviika, according to a statement from Ukraine's general staff.

According to Maxar Technologies, the convoy seen in satellite imagery indicated that the 40-mile (64-kilometer) line of vehicles, tanks, and artillery had been redeployed. Armored units were spotted in towns north of the city near the Antonov Airport. According to Maxar, some vehicles entered forests, with towed howitzers nearby and ready to fire.

The Russian column massed outside the city early last week, but its advance appeared to be slowed by food and fuel shortages reports. According to US officials, Ukrainian troops also fired anti-tank missiles at the convoy.

Nonetheless, the threat to Kyiv remained uncertain. According to a US defense official speaking on condition of anonymity, Russian forces moving toward Kyiv have advanced approximately 5 kilometers (3 miles) in the last 24 hours, with some elements approaching the city as close as 15 kilometers (9 miles).

The official did not indicate whether the convoy had dispersed or shifted significantly in recent days, stating that some vehicles were seen moving off the road into the tree line.

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, announced in a video message efforts to establish new humanitarian corridors to bring aid to people living in areas occupied or under Russian attack in the region surrounding the cities of Kherson in the south, Chernihiv in the north, and Kharkiv in the east.

Authorities also intended to send aid into Mariupol, a city of 430,000 people, where the situation had deteriorated as civilians trapped inside scrounged for food and fuel, Vereshchuk said. Attempts to do so previously have failed due to the Russian shelling of aid and rescue convoys.

Vereshchuk said more than 1,300 people were killed during the ten-day siege of the frigid city.

Residents are without heat, telephone service, and for the most part, electricity. Temperatures at night are frequently below freezing, while those are typically just above during the day. In mass graves, bodies are being buried. The streets are strewn with abandoned vehicles, shattered glass, and splintered trees.

"They have been given a clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, mock it, and constantly bomb and shell it," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in his nightly video address to the nation. He claimed the Russians launched a tank attack directly across from where a humanitarian corridor was supposed to be.

On Thursday, firefighters tried to free a boy trapped in the rubble. One took the boy's hand in his. His eyes blinked, but he remained utterly still. It was unknown whether he survived. A woman wrapped in a blue blanket shuddered nearby, near a mangled truck, at the sound of an explosion.

According to a local Red Cross official, Sacha Volkov, grocery stores and pharmacies were emptied days ago by people breaking in to obtain supplies. There is a black market for vegetables, meat is scarce, and people steal gasoline from automobiles, Volkov said.

He explained that places that are bomb-proof are scarce, with basements reserved for women and children. Volkov stated that residents are turning on one another: "People began attacking one another for food."

A worn-out-looking Aleksander Ivanov pushed a cart brimming with bags down a deserted street flanked by damaged structures.

"I no longer have a home. That's why I'm moving," he said. "It has ceased to exist, and iA mortar had struck it."

Russian shelling has thwarted repeated attempts to bring in food and medicine and evacuate civilians, Ukrainian authorities said.

"They wish to annihilate the Mariupol population. They intend to starve them," Vereshchuk stated. "It constitutes a war crime."

The number of refugees fleeing the country has surpassed 2.3 million, and approximately 100,000 people have been evacuated in the last two days from seven cities in the country's north and center, including the Kyiv suburbs, under Russian blockade, Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy warned Russian leaders that the invasion would backfire by strangling their economy. Western sanctions have already had a severe impact, with the ruble collapsing, foreign businesses fleeing, and prices skyrocketing.

"You will almost certainly face prosecution for war crimes," Zelenskyy warned in a video address, adding that "you will be despised by Russian citizens."

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed such speculation, stating that the country has previously faced sanctions.

′′We will defeat them,′′ he declared during a live televised meeting of government officials. However, he did acknowledge that the sanctions present "certain difficulties."

Along with those who have fled the country, millions have been displaced within Ukraine. Mayor Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv stated that approximately 2 million people had fled the capital or half the metropolitan area's population.

"Each street, each house... is fortified," he explained. "Even people who have never intended to change their clothes in their lives are now wearing uniforms and holding machine guns."

On Thursday, Katya, 14, was recovering at the Brovary Central District Hospital on the outskirts of Kyiv after her family was ambushed while fleeing the area. According to her mother, she was shot in the hand after their car was pounded by gunfire from a roadside forest, which gave only the name Nina.

The girl's father underwent surgery after fleeing the ambush on blown-out tires. His wife stated that he was shot in the head and lost two fingers.

Western officials reported that Russian forces have made little ground progress recently and are encountering more significant casualties and stiffer resistance from Ukraine than Moscow anticipated. However, Putin's forces have pounded Ukraine's cities with air power and artillery.