Ukraine says nine dead and 57 wounded in Russian air strike on a military base

Lviv, Ukraine (Reuters) – At least nine people were killed and 57 wounded in a Russian air strike on a large Ukrainian military base near the Polish border on Sunday in what appeared to be the most western offensive, local Ukrainian authorities said. from the war.

In the past, foreign military instructors worked at the Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping and Security. It was not clear if any of them were present at the time.

A representative of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told Reuters that the ministry was still trying to verify whether any foreign trainers were present at the facility at the time of the attack.

The military training facility, the largest in the western part of the country and traditionally the site of joint exercises with NATO, is located less than 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Polish border.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the missile strike near the border with NATO.

District Governor Maxim Kozytsky said that Russian planes fired about 30 missiles at the facility, adding that some were intercepted before they were struck.

A Reuters witness saw 19 ambulances carrying sirens as they drove from the direction of the base following the strike and black smoke rose from the area.

“Poland condemns any element of aggression against Ukraine, including the bombing of the Yavoriv base,” a Polish foreign ministry spokesman said in a letter sent to Reuters.

The mayor of another city in western Ukraine, Ivano-Frankivsk, said that Russian forces continued bombing its airport on Sunday. According to initial reports, there were no injuries.

Additional reporting by Andrew RC Marshall and Pavel Politiuk in Lviv, Ukraine, and Lydia Kelly in Melbourne · Additional reporting by Anna Cooper in Warsaw.

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