Ukraine war: Military base used for NATO drills near Poland 'targeted by Russian airstrikes'

March 13, 2022

A Ukrainian military base used for NATO drills less than 15 miles from the Polish border has been targeted by eight missiles in a Russian airstrike, local military officials have said.

Ukraine's defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said foreign military instructors worked on the site in Yavoriv, near Lviv.

A defence ministry representative has said they are still trying to establish if any of the instructors were at the centre at the time of the attack.

Reuters says a witness saw more than a dozen ambulances heading in the direction of the base.

The strike on the International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security appears to be the westernmost attack of the war so far.

The military training facility is the biggest in western Ukraine and is traditionally used for joint drills with NATO.

It is located less than 15 miles (25km) from the border with Poland, a member of NATO.

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"The occupiers launched an airstrike on the International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security. According to preliminary data, they fired eight missiles," Anton Mironovich, spokesman for the Academy of Land Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, was quoted as saying by the Interfax Ukraine news agency.

Mr Mironovich did not clarify whether the military base was hit but said there were no deaths and that information on the wounded was being confirmed.

Key developments

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  • Russian forces appear to be making progress in their advance on Kyiv
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  • Russia warns that it now considers Western arms shipments to Ukraine 'legitimate' military targets

The military base was targeted by Vladimir Putin's forces a day after a Russian diplomat warned that Western shipments of military equipment to Ukraine could be "legitimate targets" for attacks.

The strikes also come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russian forces that they faced a fight to the death if they try to occupy the capital Kyiv, as air raid sirens again woke residents on Sunday morning.

"If they decide to carpet bomb and simply erase the history of this region... and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If that's their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves," Mr Zelenskyy said on Saturday.

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