Russia attack on Ukraine army base near Nato border kills 35
An attack on a Ukrainian army base near the border of Poland has killed 35 people and brought the war close to Nato territory.
In the most deadly single strike of the war, Russia reportedly fired 30 rockets at the Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security near the city of Novoiavorivsk – a base that has been used by Nato instructors to train the Ukrainian army.
The base is just 23 miles from the border of Poland and is the farthest west that Russia has attacked during its invasion of Ukraine.
It came just one day after Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said western arms convoys to Ukraine are a “legitimate military target”.
Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said: “This is new terrorist attack on peace and security near the EU-Nato border. Action must be taken to stop this. Close the sky.”
US President Joe Biden said the strike will not stop the flow of support to Ukraine, with his administration promising $200m in small arms, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine’s army on Saturday.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken today said that Washington had been successful in giving “substantial amounts” of military aid to Ukraine.
He told CBS: “We believe that we have a system in place that will allow us to continue to do so, notwithstanding the Russian threats.”
A Nato official said: “There are no Nato personnel in Ukraine. Russia’s continued unjustified invasion of Ukraine is provoking untold suffering and destruction. It is condemned by the whole world and must stop.”