The attack comes hours after the Kremlin warned western supply lines were ‘legitimate targets’.
Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has escalated following a strike on a military base in the country’s western region near Poland that has killed 20 people.
Taking place early on Sunday morning (13 March), large explosions could be seen lighting up the sky near a military base in Yavoriv, which is a garrison city that is around 7.5 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Soon after the rocket attack – which happened at around 5.45am – ambulances could be seen rushing to the area with their sirens ringing out.
“My windows shook. The whole house vibrated. It was dark. The sky lit up with two explosions,” recalled 27-year-old emergency worker Stepan Chuma, who rushed to the scene following the early-morning attack.
According to reports from the Guardian, Chuma confirmed that 20 people had died following the strike.
Further reports from Lviv’s mayor Andriy Sadovyi confirmed that the region’s International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security in Yavoriv had been hit with eight missiles.
This space was military base used for training soldiers – mainly for peacekeeping missions.
Speaking to a spokesperson for the academy of land forces of the Ukrainian armed forces, Anton Mironovich from the Interfax Ukraine news agency were able to ascertain that “according to preliminary data there are no dead, but information about the injured and wounded is being clarified.”
In addition to this attack, it has also been suggested – but not confirmed – that Russian forces also attacked Ivano-Frankivsk airbase earlier this morning, according to city mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that any western aid shipments into Ukraine were “legitimate targets.”
Many Ukraine supporters – such as the UK, the USA and Germany – had been using the west corridor in the Lviv region to ship numerous anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.
This recent attack could be direct retaliation to this support, with Ryabkov saying that Russia had “warned the US that pumping weapons from a number of countries it orchestrates isn’t just a dangerous move, it’s an action that makes those convoys legitimate targets”.
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