Russian attacks hit near Lviv in western Ukraine

The British defense ministry believes the Kremlin has "been surprised" by the resistance of Ukrainian forces to its attack and invasion of the country, and is now pursuing a strategy likely to increase harm to civilians.

The United Kingdom in an intelligence update Saturday said that Russia "is now pursuing a strategy of attrition."

"This is likely to involve the indiscriminate use of firepower resulting in increased civilian casualties, destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, and intensify the humanitarian crisis," the U.K. defense ministry said.

Cities in Ukraine have been bombarded since Russia invaded the country in what Western countries have condemned as an unprovoked and unjustified attack.

The United Nations has recorded 2,149 civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russia attacked Feb. 24, including 816 killed — 59 of which were children.The U.N. human rights office says the actual number of civilian casualties is "much higher." Russia has denied targeting civilians.

More than 3 million refugees have fled the country, according to the U.N. 

Celebrated Ukrainian actor Oksana Shvets was killed in Kyiv when a residential building was hit by Russian shelling, her theater company announced Thursday. She was 67.

The Molodyi Theater, where Shvets had been a troupe member for decades, said in a Facebook post that there was “unrepairable grief in the family of Molodyi Theater," according to an NBC News translation.

“There is no forgiveness for the enemy that has come to our land,” the post said.

Shvets, who studied at the Ivan Franko Drama Theater and the Institute of Theater Arts, appeared in dozens of roles at the Young Theater, including a recent production of the play “Enchanted.” 

She was awarded the Merited Artist of Ukraine, an honorary title for outstanding achievement in performing arts. 

Shvets was killed as Russian forces advanced on Ukraine’s capital and appeared to target civilians. Kyiv's city council said Friday that since the invasion began, Russian attacks have damaged 36 residential buildings, five homes and 11 schools, including four kindergartens, according to an NBC News translation.

The officials said that 222 people, including four children, have been killed. NBC News has not been able to independently verify those claims. Russia has denied targeting civilians. 

Three Russian cosmonauts have arrived at the International Space Station wearing flight suits in yellow and blue colors that match the Ukrainian flag.

The men were the first new arrivals on the space station since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine last month.

Video of one of the cosmonauts taken as the capsule prepared to dock with the space station showed him wearing a blue flight suit. It was unclear what, if any, message the yellow uniforms they changed into were intended to send.

Oleg Artemyev was asked about the yellow flight suits when the newly arrived cosmonauts were able to talk to family back on Earth.

He said every crew chooses its own flight suits, so that they are not all the same.

“It became our turn to pick a color. But in fact, we had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it. So that’s why we had to wear yellow,” he said.

Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov blasted off successfully from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft at 8:55 p.m. Friday. They smoothly docked at the station just over three hours later, joining two Russians, four Americans and a German on the orbiting outpost.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s interior minister said Friday that it will take years to defuse unexploded ordnances after the Russian invasion.

Denys Monastyrsky said that the country will need Western assistance to cope with the massive task once the war is over.

“A huge number of shells and mines have been fired at Ukraine and a large part haven’t exploded, they remain under the rubble and pose a real threat,” Monastyrsky said. “It will take years, not months, to defuse them.”

In addition to the unexploded Russian ordnances, the Ukrainian troops also have planted land mines at bridges, airports and other key infrastructure to prevent Russians from using them.

“We won’t be able to remove the mines from all that territory, so I asked our international partners and colleagues from the European Union and the United States to prepare groups of experts to demine the areas of combat and facilities that came under shelling,” Monastyrsky said.

He noted that another top challenge is dealing with fires caused by the relentless Russian barrages. He said there’s a desperate shortage of personnel and equipment to deal with the fires amid the constant shelling.

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to lift the siege of Mariupol, allow humanitarian access and order an immediate cease-fire, Macron’s office said.

Macron spoke with the Russian leader on the phone for 70 minutes. Earlier in the day, Putin had a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who also pressed for an immediate cease-fire.

Macron, who has spoken numerous times with Putin, revisited complaints over repeated attacks on civilians and Russia’s failure to respect human rights in Ukraine, the presidential Elysee Palace said.

It said that Putin, in turn, laid the blame for the war on Ukraine.

Macron, who is campaigning to renew his mandate in April elections, said during a town hall-style meeting shortly before the call that he talks to Putin because he believes there is a way toward peace, between the Ukrainian resistance, tough Western sanctions and diplomatic pressure. “We must do everything to find it,” he said.

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday declined to detail what the specific consequences would be for China or what would be considered “material support” if China aided Russia in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden warned Chinese President Xi Jinping during a two-hour phone call that there would be consequences for Beijing if it provided “material support” for Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, senior administration officials said.

During the call, Biden shared with Xi a detailed review of how things have developed with the Russian invasion and his assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calculations along with Biden’s support for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, a senior administration official said.

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More than 9,100 Ukrainians were evacuated from the war-torn country on Friday through humanitarian corridors, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video posted to Telegram. 

At least 500 people were transported by bus, while others fled by car. Ten evacuation buses will be available Saturday from the port city of Berdyansk, Vereshchuk said.

The evacuees, the majority from the northeastern region of Sumy, used seven of nine previously established humanitarian corridors. They were less effective in the Kharkiv region, Vereshchuk said, adding that Ukraine is working to establish new corridors in the regions of Kharkiv, Kherson and Luhansk.