Summary
- Russian air strike hits military base near Polish border
- Moscow also targets airport in western Ukraine
- Russian forces seek to surround Ukrainian forces in east
LVIV, Ukraine, March 13 – A Russian missile attack on a large Ukrainian military facility near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday killed nine people and wounded 57, Ukrainian officials said.
Foreign military instructors have previously worked at the base, Ukraine said. It was not clear whether any were there at the time.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said Russian planes fired around 30 rockets at the Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, adding that some were intercepted before they hit.
The 360 square-km (140 square-mile) facility less than 25 km (15 miles) from the Polish border, is one Ukraine’s biggest and the largest in the western part of the country.
The Kremlin did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the reported missile strike so close to the border with NATO, and a short video briefing by Russia’s defence ministry spokesman on Sunday made no mention of such an attack.
“Russia has attacked the International Center for Peacekeeping & Security near Lviv. Foreign instructors work here. Information about the victims is being clarified,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in an online post.
Ukraine, whose aspirations to join NATO are a major irritant to Russian President Vladimir Putin, held most of its drills with countries in the Western defence alliance at the base before the invasion. The last major exercises were in September.
In the weeks before Russia invaded on Feb. 24, the Ukrainian military trained there, but according to Ukrainian media, all foreign instructors left the training ground in mid-February, while leaving all the equipment.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched by Putin on Feb. 24, has sent more than 2.5 millions fleeing across borders and trapped thousands of people in besieged cities.
While Western nations have sought to isolate Putin by imposing harsh sanctions, the United States and its allies are concerned to avoid NATO being drawn into the conflict.
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