Russian missile strikes kill 35 at Ukrainian military training base near Polish border

Missiles struck a military training centre provocatively close to the Polish border in Ukraine on Sunday, killing 35 in the latest escalation by Russian forces.

Black smoke was still rising from the base, where the Canadian Armed Forces once trained Ukrainian troops, hours after the early morning attack.

Dozens of ambulance were seen speeding to and from the site, the International Centre for Peace and Security in Yavoriv. Local authorities said 134 had been hospitalized.

Fires were extinguished around noon local time and specialists were sifting through the debris.

Global News was turned back at the entrance to the base, and Ukrainian troops made a reporter delete the photos and videos from his phone.

“In total, the occupiers fired more than 30 missiles,” said the Lviv regional state administration spokesperson, Maksym Kozytskyi.

“The Ukrainian air defense system worked. We shot down some of the missiles in the air. We reiterate and appeal to all NATO governments: NATO, close the sky over Ukraine!”

The strikes followed speculation Russia would begin disrupting the movement of troops and supplies to the eastern frontlines, where President Vladimir Putin’s forces are nearing the capital Kyiv.

The missiles were launched over the Black Sea and Azov Sea from planes that flew from Saratov, deep inside Russia, Kozytskyi said.

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Russian forces have expanded their unprovoked war against Ukraine into the country’s relatively-untouched west in recent days.

Air strikes targeted airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk on Friday but this was the first attack near Lviv, the largest centre in the country’s west.

It brought the conflict harrowingly close to a NATO country. Yaroviv is only about 20-kilometres from the main border crossing into Poland.

NATO has been trying to avoid becoming drawn into a direct conflict with Russia, with U.S. President Joe Biden warning that would lead to a Third World War.

Until May 2021, the Yaroviv base was the headquarters of Operation Unifier, the mission by Canadian and other NATO troops to train thousands of their Ukrainian counterparts.

Officials said the air raid alert system worked, limiting the casualties. Sirens sent Lviv residents twice into shelters on Sunday, most recently at 11:30 a.m.

“On behalf of the whole Lviv region we express our sincere condolences to the families of the victims. We will not forget any hero and we will not forgive any occupier!” said Kozytskyi said

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that 1,300 Ukrainian troops have died repelling Russia’s attempt to seize its neighbour.

Several thousand Russian troops are believe to have died since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24. Almost 600 civilians have lost their lives, including children.

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