Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Russia, Ukraine, World News
Hannah Smith
Russia has launched a missile attack targeting a military training centre just a few miles from the Polish border, Ukrainian officials have confirmed.
Local authorities said that at least eight rockets hit the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security in Yavoriv, around 6 miles from Ukraine's border with Poland, in what is the westernmost Russian attack so far.
At least five people are known to have died, with dozens more injured in the attack, which reportedly overwhelmed air defences with as many as 30 missiles launched towards the site.
The large base can accomodate up to 1,760 people, according to the BBC, and is used by Ukrainian and NATO forces as part of the Partnership for Peace programme, which aims to foster co-operation between NATO and non-NATO members. It's one of two sites in Ukraine where international military exercises take place.
In a tweet, Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that foreign military instructors worked at the site, though it's not immediately clear if any international staff are among the casualties.
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'This is new terrorist attack on peace & security near the EU-NATO border. Action must be taken to stop this. Close the sky!' Reznikov said.
Elsewhere in western Ukraine the mayor of the city of Ivano-Frankivsk said that the city's airport was targeted in an attack, prompting fears that Russia may be attempting to target weapons supplies arriving from the west, or those trying to flee from the east.
In a Facebook post, Ruslan Martsinkiv said the goal of the strikes 'is to sow panic and fear.'
The latest attacks come days after more Russian airstrikes targeted the west of the country, which has so far escaped the worst of the bombardment and has been a place of relative safety for those fleeing cities further to the east.
The overnight strike in Yavoriv took place just 19 miles from Lviv, and so close to the Polish border that some residents in the EU and NATO member country were able to hear the explosions.
Yesterday, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov hinted that the country's forces could decide to attack supply convoys moving from Poland into Ukraine, claiming that they were 'legitimate targets.'
NATO has repeatedly said that any attack that strayed into its territory would trigger the Article 5 commitment to collective defense.
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