War in Ukraine: a military base in the west of the country was bombed
Soldiers train at the International Center for the Maintenance of Peace and Security in Yavoriv in the Lviv region in September 2021 (illustration image).
REUTERS - GLEB GARANICH
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Russian forces bombarded, on Sunday March 13, a military base located in western Ukraine, near the Polish border, an area hitherto relatively spared from the conflict, said the Ukrainian authorities.
Advertising
Read more
“
The occupiers carried out an airstrike on the International Center for the Maintenance of Peace and Security.
According to preliminary information, they fired eight missiles
,” the Lviv regional administration said in a statement.
This military base is located in Yavoriv, about forty kilometers northwest of Lviv and about twenty kilometers from the border with Poland, a NATO member country.
It has served in recent years as a training ground for Ukrainian forces under the supervision of foreign instructors, notably American and Canadian.
Foreign instructors
The Yavoriv base was also one of the main centers used for joint military exercises between Ukrainian and NATO forces.
It is also on this base that part of the military aid delivered to Ukraine by Western countries arrives.
Foreign instructors are "
working
" at the bombed military base overnight from Saturday to Sunday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said.
“
Russia attacked the International Center for the Maintenance of Peace and Security.
Foreign instructors work there.
Victim information is being clarified
,” the minister said in a
tweet
.
Did Russia warn before striking?
According to public data consulted by RFI this morning, the United States had indeed set up training programs in Yavoriv in the handling of tanks and armored vehicles since 2015, explains
Vincent Souriau
of the international service
.
Five Ukrainian battalions trained there every year.
It was Barack Obama who forged this collaboration after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Just a month ago, more than 150 soldiers from the Florida National Guard were on this base.
The Pentagon had indicated in February 2022 that they would be exfiltrated in the event of a Russian invasion.
Questions therefore arise: did they remain members of the American special forces on the base?
Did Russia warn the American general staff before striking?
(
with AFP
)
►Also listen
: First lessons of the war in Ukraine
russia has attacked the International Center for Peacekeeping&Security near Lviv.Foreign instructors work here.Information about the victims is being clarified.This is new terrorist attack on peace&security near the EU-NATO border.Action must be taken to stop this.Close the sky!
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) March 13, 2022
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Ukraine
Russia
Defense