Eight missiles struck the facility in Yvoryev, a base where until last month the US National Guard trained Ukrainian troops. Soon after the strike, ambulances were seen running towards the base, and soldiers were seen leaving.
Footage on social media showed a parade ground laden with destroyed buildings and rubble, with smoke rising from the ruins. According to the governor’s office in Lviv, 134 people were injured in the strike and some barracks were destroyed and damaged.
Russian strikes could disrupt a vital lifeline for Ukraine and bring the war closer to the country’s border with Poland.
Weapons supplied to Ukraine by the US and its European allies—particularly antitank and anti-aircraft weapons—have been instrumental in halting the advance of Russian ground troops, who have suffered heavy casualties to the north as they attacked Ukrainian troops. Tried a huge circle. Capital, Kyiv.
The strike at the training facility comes as Moscow has shown its ability to bomb targets across the country, while its ground troops near Kyiv have suffered setbacks.
The mayor said the missiles also hit an airport near the city of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine on Sunday morning, the third attack since the attack on the city began. On Saturday, cruise missiles struck an airport south of Kyiv, setting fire to an oil terminal and an ammunition depot, officials said.
Earlier in the war, allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization openly publicized weapons shipments being sent to Ukraine. In the first week of the war, governments such as the Czech Republic and Poland shared news of their deliveries on Facebook and Twitter.
Weapons are still flowing into the country, but the Allies have become more prudent about how widely they disclose shipments. At least seven military cargo jets of NATO allies landed on Saturday alone in Rzczów, a small airport in southern Poland that has become the platform for supplies headed to Ukraine.
“We’re delivering every day in terms of aid, and especially when you look at what we’re doing as it relates to anti-tank and defense systems,” Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday. It is an ongoing process and it is not going to stop, as far as it is needed.”
On Saturday, President Biden authorized $200 million of new security aid to Ukraine, bringing the total authorized US security aid to the nation this year to $1.2 billion, according to a White House official.
On Saturday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Moscow views arms deliveries to Ukraine as a legitimate military target.
“We have warned of the consequences of a thoughtless transfer of weapons such as portable air-defense systems and anti-tank systems to Ukraine,” he said. “It is America that is the source of maximum tension.”
The military base targeted by Russia on Sunday sits near a main road between Poland and Lviv, a city in western Ukraine serving as a major logistics hub.
The US training mission was evacuated from the base in mid-February, when the White House was warning of an imminent invasion of Ukraine. At the base, Ukrainian soldiers were being trained to use the US-supplied anti-javelin weapon system, a powerful weapon against Russian armor.
Ukraine’s military said at a briefing in Lviv on Sunday that a Russian bomber based in the Russian provincial city of Saratov fired rockets over the Black Sea. Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems destroyed most of them, but eight reached their targets at the military base.
Russia has had limited success in disrupting supply convoys or other military road traffic in Ukraine since the start of its offensive two weeks ago. The movement of Ukrainian troops, tanks and other weapons is often seen on the highways during daylight hours.
The attack on an area so close to the Polish border also represents a potential risk to the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are using that corridor to flee the country.
Although Russia’s offensive appears to be tied to Ukrainian resistance and military problems, Russia has said it is going according to plan. In Moscow, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday that the Russian military shot down a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-24 plane and two Ukrainian drones. He did not address the strike at the training centre.
In total, 99 military aircraft and 128 Ukrainian Army drones were destroyed in what the Kremlin describes as a “special military operation”, Major General Konashenkov said. In addition, about 3,700 Ukrainian military infrastructure were put out of action and about 1,200 tanks and other armored combat vehicles were destroyed, he said.
Officials said cruise missiles struck an airport south of Kyiv, setting fire to an oil terminal and an ammunition depot. Officials said the Russian strikes also affected suburbs to the east and west and a drone crashed in the city center, setting a bank on fire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a news conference on Saturday that Russian forces could capture large parts of the country, but would not be able to prevent any gains. Demonstrators have already greeted Russian forces in the cities they are occupying.
In a separate video address released early Saturday, Mr Zelensky cried that the mayor of the southern city of Melitopol had been abducted by Russian forces, who refused to cooperate with the occupying troops and a Ukrainian flag in his office. continued to show. ,
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