LVIV (Reuters/AFP) – Russia has reportedly launched a missile attack on a large Ukrainian military facility near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday, with a Ukrainian official claiming 35 people were killed 134 were wounded.
Ukraine said foreign military instructors have previously worked at the base, but a NATO official said there were no personnel from the alliance at the base. It was not immediately clear whether any non-NATO states might have representatives there.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said Russian planes fired around 30 rockets at the Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, adding that some were intercepted before they hit. At least 35 people were killed and 134 wounded, he said. Reuters was not able to verify his statement.
The 360 square-km facility less than 25 km (15 miles) from the Polish border, is one Ukraine’s biggest and the largest in the western part of the country.
The Kremlin did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the reported missile strike so close to the border with NATO, and a short video briefing by Russia’s defense ministry spokesman on Sunday made no mention of such an attack.
Nineteen ambulances with sirens on were seen by Reuters driving from the direction of the Yaroviv facility after the reported strike and black smoke rose from the area.
Meanwhile, a U.S. journalist was shot dead and another wounded on Sunday in Irpin, a frontline suburb of Kyiv that has witnessed some of the fiercest fighting since the conflict.
Papers found on the American reporter’s body identified him as 50-year-old video documentary shooter Brent Renaud, of New York.
A New York Times identity card was among the papers, leading to reports he worked for the paper, but the U.S. daily said he was not working for it at the time of his death.
The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine since the war on February 24 is now nearly 2.7 million, the UN said on Sunday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said there were 2,698,280 refugees who had fled Ukraine so far, according to its dedicated webpage at around 1100 GMT.
The figure was more than 100,700 higher than the last count on Saturday.
This is the largest exodus of refugees in Europe since World War II, according to UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi.
Four million people could leave Ukraine to flee the war, according to initial UN estimates. That figure is likely to be revised upwards, the UN refugee agency said.
Before the conflict, Ukraine had a population of some 37 million in the regions under government control.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday the country was ready to negotiate to end the conflict, but would not surrender or accept any ultimatums.
On the same day, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized an additional $200 million in weapons and other military assistance for Ukraine, according to the White House.
The decision brings total U.S. military aid provided to Ukraine to $1.2 billion since January 2021, and to $3.2 billion since 2014, when the conflict over Donetsk and Lugansk started.