Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with NATO ally Poland yesterday, killing at least 34 and wounding at least 134, greatly escalating the war and bringing it to NATO’s front door.
Russia’s ministry of defense said that the barrage of missiles was aimed at destroying large amounts of weapons that were supplied to Ukraine by foreign nations. It also claimed that the strikes killed “up to 180 foreign mercenaries.”
The strikes hit the Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, which is located just 15 miles from the Ukraine-Poland border. It has previously hosted NATO military instructors. And the strikes brought the Russian war against Ukraine to the doorstep of the defense alliance.
An estimated 30 rockets were fired at the center. It is one of the biggest facilities in Ukraine, and one of the largest in the western part of the country. So far, the war has mostly brought the worst to other parts of the country.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation that any attack on NATO’s territory would immediately trigger a full response by the defense alliance.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded to the strike on Twitter, saying that “the brutality must stop.”
The UK used stronger words, saying that the attack was a “significant escalation.”
Heavy fighting has been reported across Ukraine, with air raid sirens wailing in Kyiv as Russian forces attempt to besiege and encircle the capital city. Ukrainian authorities have said they are trying to stockpile two weeks’ worth of food for the city’s population of 2 million who have not yet fled in case Russia does besiege Kyiv.
Renewed airstrikes were also reported in the west, and heavy shelling was reported on Chernihiv. Ukrainian government officials have said that forces were counterattacking in the eastern Kharkiv region and around the town of Mykolayiv in the south.
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