Smoke seen rising after explosions rock Ukraine city 70 km from Polish border

At least one Russian missile hit a location in Lviv early Friday, according to the city's mayor.

Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Facebook he was unable to confirm the location of the strike but it was not the city's airport.

So far, the picturesque city in western Ukraine has largely been spared from the relentless bombardment of Russian forces.

Here's why Lviv is so important:

• Location: At about 43 miles (70 kilometers) from the Polish border, Lviv is at NATO's doorstep — any attack here could have international repercussions.
• Refugees: Lviv has become ground zero for displaced Ukrainians. It hosts more than 200,000 internally displaced people in a city of just over 700,000, according to the mayor. They've flooded into the city in search of relative safety, with many using it as a stopping point before making their way to the border.
• Logistics: The larger region serves as a crucial weapons supply route to the Ukrainian military and a wider resistance effort that has foiled Moscow's plans for a blitz-like invasion.
• Culture: Lviv's historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the National Museum houses the country's most complete collection of sacred medieval art and rare religious manuscripts.
• Temporary base: The city has become the makeshift home for many media organizations and embassies, which were forced to relocate from Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

Last Sunday, Russia expanded its offensive to western Ukraine, firing missiles near Lviv and hitting a large military base close to the Polish border, reportedly killing dozens of people and drawing the war closer to the borders of a NATO country. The attack came the day after the Kremlin threatened to attack Western weapons shipments to Ukraine.

At least one Russian missile hit a location in Lviv early Friday morning, the mayor's office told CNN.

In a post on his Facebook page, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said he was unable to confirm the location of the strike but said it was not the airport.

“Missiles hit the area near Lviv airport. I cannot say the location at this time, but it is definitely not an airport. The windows in the buildings of [a] motor transport company are damaged. The situation on the ground is being clarified and we will update later,” Sadovyi said.

There was no word on any casualties.

The mayor also asked people not to share photos of the location that was attacked.

Multiple explosions were heard at about 6:30 a.m. local time and smoke was seen rising from the direction of the Danylo Halytskyi International airport to the west of Lviv, according to a CNN team in the Ukrainian city.

A number of videos posted on social media also seem to show smoke rising from the same location, but CNN has not verified this footage.

It is not yet known what caused the explosions, or their exact location.

Watch: New video from Lviv shows smoke rising in distance

As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares for a phone call with his US counterpart on Friday, the war in Ukraine looms large — with Beijing's position on Russia's invasion under increasing international scrutiny.

Russia-China friendship: Though not military allies, China and Russia have in recent years burnished their partnership in trade, technology and coordination of military exercises, while becoming increasingly vocal about what they view as Western interference into their domestic affairs -- pushing back on US-led sanctions and often voting as a bloc in the United Nations.

The war began just weeks after Beijing declared a limitless partnership with Moscow. In February, Xi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing — the Chinese leader's first in-person summit with another head of state in nearly two years.

The meeting saw the two leaders sign a 5,000-word joint statement that included an expression of their shared disapproval of NATO expansion — an issue that's been key to Putin's rationale for his assault on Ukraine.

Days before the invasion, Beijing continued to publicly dismiss US intelligence that a Russian attack on its neighbor was imminent. Views diverge on how much Xi may have known about Putin's true plans.

Precarious position: Since the war began, China has tried to project a neutral stance. It has not condemned Russian actions, and has refused to label the attack an invasion. Chinese diplomats have criticized NATO expansion and accused the United States of fueling the conflict. But they have also called for a diplomatic solution.

As the war drags on, experts believe Beijing's position is growing increasingly untenable — for two main reasons:

1. Economic threat: If China lends support to Russia, it could violate Western sanctions. Chinese enterprises involved could then be hit by secondary punitive measures — potentially signing their economic death on the global market.
2. Diplomatic threat: Beijing's stance could sink relations between China and major Western trading partners. Trade between the European Union and China topped $800 billion last year and US-China trade was over $750 billion, according to China's official data, while its trade with Russia was just under $150 billion. Even before the war, the US-China relationship was deteriorating over issues like trade, Taiwan, and Beijing's human rights record — and there were signs Europe was also hardening its outlook on China.

Potential consequences: Russia has asked China for military and economic support, according to conversations CNN had with two US officials — and the US has intelligence suggesting Beijing has expressed some openness to this request, a Western official and a US diplomat told CNN.

It is not yet clear whether China intends to provide Russia with that help, US officials familiar with the intelligence tell CNN — but according to the White House, Biden will lay out the potential ramifications of such an action during the call with Xi.

Months before Russian troops attacked Ukraine, American Jimmy Hill went there to be with his Ukranian partner, Ira, who has multiple sclerosis. When war broke out, Hill stayed, despite the deteriorating conditions in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.

"He was not going to leave Ira's side in her condition," Hill's sister Katya told CNN. "Jim was in Ukraine this time because he had gotten medicine from the United States and had found a doctor in Chernihiv that would treat her."

Hill was among dozens of civilians killed by the Russian onslaught Thursday in Chernihiv.

Ukrainian police said he died during artillery fire. His sister told CNN the family didn't get specifics about his death from the US Embassy.

Chernihiv, to the northeast of Kyiv and close to the Russian border, has seen some of the most intense shelling from Russian forces since the war began more than three weeks ago.

Hill often traveled to Ukraine yearly to visit his partner, according to his longtime friend Karin Moseley. They had been together for around 13 years, she told CNN.

His Facebook posts throughout March chronicled the worsening situation in Chernihiv, detailing air raid sirens, daily explosions and an "orange sky over the city" amid fires. His final entry read: "Bombing has intensified noway (sic) out."

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