Mariupol: Russia has escalated attacks in western Ukraine with a deadly airstrike on a military base where its troops had trained with NATO forces, bringing the conflict closer to Poland and other members of the bloc. The Ukrainians said that at least 35 people were killed and 134 wounded when over 30 cruise missiles were fired at the base, just 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Polish border, Associated Press reported. No further information on the casualties was immediately available.
A day earlier, a senior Russian diplomat said Moscow had warned the United States that it considered foreign shipments of military equipment to Ukraine “legitimate targets,” and thus fair game for attack. Poland is a key location for routing Western military aid to Ukraine.
It was unclear immediately what the training base was being used for. U.S. President Joe Biden has announced an additional aid to Ukraine of up to $200 million for weapons, military services, education and training — atop $6.5 billion of military aid already approved.
The strike comes a day after Russia bombarded cities across Ukraine, pounding Mariupol in the south, shelling the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, and thwarting the efforts of people trying to flee the violence. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also accused Russia of trying to create new “pseudo-republics” to break his country apart. He called on Ukraine’s regions not to repeat the experience of two eastern areas where pro-Russian separatists began fighting Ukrainian forces in 2014.
As Russian units fanned out to prepare for an assault on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Russia would need to carpet-bomb the city and kill its residents to take it. Now in its third week, the war has forced more than 2.5 million people to flee Ukraine.
(Agency inputs)
