02:07
Russian missiles hit Yavoriv military base in western Ukraine near Polish border
Zelensky’s warning as Ukraine-Russia war edges closer to Nato’s doorstep: ‘only a matter of time’
- Russia escalated its offensive in Ukraine by striking a military base perilously close to the Polish border
- Attack so near a Nato member-country raised possibility the alliance could be drawn into the fight
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Nato that its member states would soon be attacked by Russian forces after an air strike hit a Ukrainian military base 25km (15 miles) from the Polish border.
“If you do not close our sky, it is only a matter of time before Russian missiles fall on your territory, on Nato territory, on the homes of Nato citizens,” Zelensky said in a video address released shortly after midnight on Monday, again urging Nato to impose a no-fly zone over his country.
The military training facility, the biggest in western Ukraine and a venue for past drills with Nato, houses the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security.
Russia said its strike killed “up to 180 foreign mercenaries,” according to a statement from the Defence Ministry in Moscow. In addition, a “large batch of foreign weapons” was also destroyed, said the statement, carried by the TASS news agency.
Kyiv made no mention of foreign casualties and neither side’s version of events could be independently verified.
The US Department of Defence responded to the Russian missile fire by reiterating that Washington and its allies would defend Nato territory in the event of an attack.
“An armed attack against one is considered an armed attack against all,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told US broadcaster ABC on Sunday, referring to Nato agreements for mutual military support.
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Washington has said it will not intervene directly in Ukraine, in order to avoid a direct confrontation of Russia which US President Joe Biden had warned could amount to “World War III”.
However, the US and its allies have sent funds and military aid has provided Kyiv with military support. And on Saturday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that Western convoys bringing military aid to Nato ally Ukraine could be treated as legitimate targets.
Zelensky says the Russians have suffered “heavy losses” of about 12,000 troops – although Moscow put the number at 498, in its only toll released March 2.
About 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed, according to Kyiv.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Kyiv was preparing for a full blockade as intense fighting continued around the capital, including in the town of Irpin and in Makariv further west. In the capital, authorities said they were stockpiling two weeks’ worth of food for the 2 million people who have not yet fled from Russian forces.
Britain’s defence ministry said Russian naval forces had established a distant blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, isolating the country from international maritime trade.
In eastern Ukraine, Russian troops were trying to surround Ukrainian forces as they advance from the port of Mariupol in the south and the second city Kharkiv in the north, it added.
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The Russian-controlled eastern city of Donbass and Crimea – which was seized by Russia in 2014 – are now connected by a road controlled by pro-Russian forces, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Georgy Muradov, the deputy prime minister of the Russian-backed government in Crimea, as saying.
The report could not be independently confirmed.
The UN estimates that almost 2.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion, most of them to Poland, which is struggling to provide for the arrivals.
Agence France-Presse, dpa, Reuters, Associated Press
