Russia-Ukraine war: Russian attacks expand into western Ukraine

Russia has widened its war in Ukraine with several new cities experiencing the sudden jolt of war without warning.

The fresh round of attacks was launched in western cities far from Moscow's main targets elsewhere in Ukraine and could indicate a new direction of where this war is headed.

Every day and every hour the surviving safe places of Ukraine are being shattered by shrapnel.

The war has hit the west with explosions in the historical city of Lutsk - just an hour from Poland.

And in the western city of Ivano Frankivsk airstrikes edge ever closer to the border of the European Union.

In Dnipro, the country's fourth-biggest city, a shoe factory was reduced to rubble by a missile strike.

The front line of terror has expanded overnight. A couple has now joined the 2.5 million Ukrainians who have fled their homes for safety - with their return date, unknown.

"I beg you to tell the world about another act of state terrorism, it's not just a war, it's state-sponsored terrorism by a powerful country against us," Ukrainian military spokesperson Vadym Yermolenko said.

Like so many around the country,  the lives of those who live in Dnipro are now ruled by the sound of sirens.

The warning of another attack sends them underground where they shelter and shudder at the conflict they are now so suddenly a part of.

One man was injured by flying glass when the bomb hit - his wife doesn't know what they'll do next.

But despite the expansion of fighting into the west of Ukraine, the Western allies are maintaining their distance from it all.

"The idea that we are going to send in offensive equipment, American pilots and troops, just understand, don't kid yourselves, no matter what you say, that's called World War III, okay," US President Joe Biden says.

So the Ukrainians continue their solo fightback as the Russians continue their brutal advance towards the capital of Kyiv.

Any villages they come across on their journey are left destroyed and disregarded - collateral damage in the battle for the crown jewel of the country.

Ukrainian soldiers are defending Kyiv against all odds as the fighting grows fiercer and draws ever closer.