Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian military base kill 35, injure 134 near Poland border

On Sunday, Russian warplanes struck a military training facility in western Ukraine, killing 35 people and wounding 134 others in one of the deadliest attacks on a single target since the invasion began three weeks earlier. The International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, located in Yavoriv about 25 miles northwest of the city of Lviv, absorbed cruise missiles fired from Russian aircraft positioned over the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Maksym Kozytsky, head of the Lviv regional administration, announced the toll in stages as rescue workers combed through the wreckage—first reporting nine dead, then revising upward to 35 as the full scope of the damage became clear. He noted that 134 wounded were being treated in military hospitals, with injuries ranging from minor to severe.

The base was no ordinary military installation. It functioned as a training hub where Ukrainian soldiers worked alongside foreign instructors from the United States, Canada, and other NATO countries. Joint exercises involving Ukrainian forces and NATO allies had been conducted there regularly. The facility represented exactly the kind of Western military presence that Russian officials had cited as justification for their invasion, announced on February 24. By the time the airstrikes came, however, foreign military personnel had already departed. The United States had withdrawn 150 of its instructors on February 12, two weeks before the attack. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov acknowledged that foreign instructors had worked at the base but said it was unclear whether any were present during the bombardment.

Reznikov condemned the strike as a "terrorist attack on peace and security near the EU-NATO border," and called for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace. "Close the sky," he wrote on social media, demanding immediate action to prevent further attacks from the air. The plea reflected Ukraine's growing desperation as Russian forces continued to pummel military and civilian targets across the country. Fires at the base were nearly extinguished by Sunday afternoon, and pyrotechnics experts were examining the debris for unexploded ordnance.

The attack came as the United States was moving to deepen its military support for Ukraine. On Saturday, Washington authorized an additional $200 million in military equipment for Ukrainian forces. Russia responded the same day with a warning that its troops would target shipments of Western weapons entering the country, signaling that Moscow intended to disrupt the flow of aid that was beginning to sustain Ukrainian resistance.

Lviv, situated a short drive from Poland and the European Union, had become a refuge for Ukrainians fleeing the fighting in the east and north. The city also served as a transit point for those leaving the country entirely. Its relative proximity to NATO territory had made it seem safer than other parts of Ukraine, though Sunday's strike demonstrated that no location was beyond the reach of Russian firepower. The same day, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, another western Ukrainian city, reported that Russian missiles had struck the city's airport—the third such attack on the city since the invasion began.

Pope Francis, speaking after his weekly Angelus prayers on Sunday, issued a plea for an end to what he called the "massacre" and the "unacceptable armed attack" in Ukraine. He condemned the "barbarity" of killing children and civilians, and called on all parties to "stop this massacre" in the name of God. His words reflected the growing international horror at the scale and intensity of the Russian campaign.