KYIV, Ukraine — With reports of a large-scale military convoy positioning itself into a firing posture around Kyiv, Russian forces widened their offensive in Ukraine on Friday, attacking more major cities while also pounding targets farther from the front line.
The intensified assault on the ground came even as the United States somewhat improbably insisted that diplomacy still had a role in the conflict and as Moscow pressed its propaganda war at the United Nations.
Early Friday, Russian warplanes conducted three airstrikes on Dnipro — Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, about 240 miles southeast of Kyiv — hitting a kindergarten, an apartment building and a two-story shoe factory, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. The factory was still burning more than two hours after the attack, and at least one person was killed, the emergency service said.
