Russian Missile Strike Kills 35 at Ukraine Base Near Polish Border

Savas Abadsidis March 13, 2022

A Russian Missile strike at the Ukraine military base at Yavoriv killed 35 Sunday morning. Yavoriv is a garrison city less than 10 miles from the Polish border.

The rocket attack took place at 5.45am.

The Guardian:

The attack happened hours after the Kremlin had warned that western supply lines into the embattled country were “legitimate targets”.
The facility has previously hosted foreign military trainers from the UK, US and other countries but it is not clear that any were at the base. Ukraine held most of its drills with Nato countries there before the invasion with the last major exercises in September.
“Russia has attacked the International Centre for Peacekeeping & Security near Lviv. Foreign instructors work here. Information about the victims is being clarified,” the Ukrainian defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said in an online post.

The governor of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytskyi, said Russian forces fired more than 30 cruise missiles at the Yavoriv base. The 140 square-mile facility less than 25km (15 miles) from the Polish border, is one Ukraine’s biggest and the largest in the western part of the country – and serves a similar function to the British army’s training areas on Salisbury Plain.
The attack on the base is highly significant for a number of reasons. Long viewed with suspicion by Russia – whose media has claimed falsely that in the past the facility was a secret Nato base in Ukraine – the proximity, so close to the Polish border, marks a sharp escalation in the scope of Russian airstrikes.
There has been speculation too that the area has been used both to receive incoming weapons shipments for Ukraine’s military as well as training the large numbers of foreign volunteers flocking to the country.
Simon Shuster of Time magazine, who was in the area the day before, said on Twitter: “When Russia bombed the base near Lviv last night, it had to assume Americans were likely to be killed or injured. A coordinator of foreign volunteers in Ukraine told me the base was a hub for 1000s of them, coming from all over to help Ukraine. I met some from US, UK, Australia.”

When Russia bombed the base near Lviv last night, it had to assume Americans were likely to be killed or injured. A coordinator of foreign volunteers in Ukraine told me the base was a hub for 1000s of them, coming from all over to help Ukraine. I met some from US, UK, Australia.
— Simon Shuster (@shustry) March 13, 2022

The attack comes less than 24 hours after Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, warned that western shipments to Ukraine were “legitimate targets”.

Supporters of Ukraine, including the UK, Germany and the US, have been shipping thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles into Ukraine using the country’s western corridor in the Lviv region.

The attack is thought to be the westernmost carried out by Russia in 18 days of fighting.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a post on Instagram:

I told the President of Poland @prezydent_pl and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kirill Petkov about the course of Ukraine’s defense and the criminal actions of the Russian aggressor. We appreciate the help and support of our country’s European integration.