Western Ukraine, hitherto relatively spared since the start of the conflict, is in turn targeted by Russian missiles. A military base located in Yavoriv, about forty kilometers northwest of Lviv, was bombed overnight from Saturday to Sunday, killing at least 35 people and wounding more than 130, according to a still provisional report. Around 30 missiles were fired, 22 of which were intercepted by Ukrainian defense systems.
Missiles close to NATO borders
By targeting Yavoriv, the Russian bombs are getting closer to NATO. Firstly because the base is only about twenty kilometers from the border with Poland, a member country of the Atlantic Alliance. Then because this military base, which houses the largest military training ground in Ukraine, is one of the places of cooperation between Kiev and NATO.
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Although Ukraine is not a member of the Alliance, a dialogue has been established since independence in 1991, when the former Soviet republic became a member of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. Three years later, cooperation was set up, Kiev joining the Partnership for Peace (PPP), launched by NATO to establish bilateral relations with certain states.
Yavoriv, a base for joint exercises with NATO
It is within the framework of this partnership that joint military exercises take place every year in Yavoriv between Ukrainian forces and troops from many countries. From September 20 to 1is last October, the 21e edition of Rapid Trident, the name of this annual meeting, was conducted there under American supervision, in the presence of 6,000 troops from 15 countries (United States, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Jordan, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Turkey and United Kingdom).
In addition, foreign instructors, especially Americans, regularly go there, as part of cooperation that has become more intense since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov confirmed on Sunday that “foreign instructors work there”, without specifying whether they were present at the time of the strikes. The authorities also did not specify their nationalities.
Crossing point for weapons delivered to Ukraine
Men, but also weapons took the direction of Yavoriv, even more since the beginning of the conflict. Part of the military aid delivered to Ukraine by Western countries passes through this base close to Poland. On Saturday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that these “convoys” were becoming “legitimate targets”.
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Without however succeeding in intimidating Washington, which, after having already authorized on February 26 unprecedented aid to Ukraine in military equipment of 350 million dollars, gave the green light to an additional tranche of 200 million dollars. Among these shipments are Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, which are very damaging to Russian forces.