At least 35 people were killed and more than 100 others injured in a Russian air strike on a military base near Lviv in western Ukraine, around 30 km from the border with Poland. The military base was believed to have been engaged in training Ukrainian forces with the help of foreign instructors. Later on Sunday night Russia said the air strike had killed 180 foreign mercenaries present at the base.
The area is also a major transit point from where western nations are sending defence materiel to Ukraine via Poland. Local authorities said that they were trying to confirm if any foreigners were killed in the strike. “At least 35 people have been killed and 134 wounded in a Russian air strike on a large Ukrainian military training ground near the Polish border,” said governor Maksym Kozytskyy.
Ukraine Defence Minister of Oleksii Reznikov confirmed the attack and reiterated his country’s demand to close Ukraine’s airspace. “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!” he tweeted on Sunday.
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister had said on Saturday that Russian forces would destroy all weapons shipments coming to Ukraine from abroad, as they were “legitimate targets.”
The International Center for Peacekeeping and Security regularly hosts western instructors of the Ukrainian military.
Several citizens who were at the site of the incident said that dozens of ambulances rushed to the spot after the attack to shift the injured to nearby health facilities. Ukrainian armed forces have closed the military base and forces were shifted to adjoining military bases. The defence facility near Lviv is one of the biggest facilities in Ukraine.
As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered the third week, Kremlin has shifted its attacks further west, close to the city of Lviv and Ukraine’s border with neighbouring Poland. For the past four days, the Russian air force has bombarded many cities of Ukraine like Mariupol in the south, shelling the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, and thwarting the efforts of people trying to flee the conflict zone.
A video journalist from the United States, best known for producing humanitarian stories from conflict zones, was killed in Irpin outside the city of Kyiv, according to police official Andriy Nebytov.
The police shared images of the journalist’s body, as well as his press ID and US passport. The press ID showed the reporter as an employee of the New York Times, but the US newspaper said that the man was not working for them at the moment of his death. The journalist was a Peabody and DuPont Award-winning filmmaker, best known for producing humanitarian stories from conflict zones. He was a journalist for over two decades. Moreover, an unverified video appeared to show his journalist colleague being treated in a hospital with wounds. He said that he was shot at while in a car.
Also on Sunday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed that Russia has abducted Yevhen Matveyev, the mayor of Dniprorudne in Vasylivka district, in Zaporizhzhia region. Russian invaders are not getting the support of locals in Ukraine and thus they are resorting to instilling terror, said the Ukrainian FM. Kuleba in a tweet wrote, “Today, Russian war criminals abducted another democratically elected Ukrainian mayor, head of Dniprorudne Yevhen Matveyev. Getting zero local support, invaders turn to terror. I call on all states & international organizations to stop Russian terror against Ukraine and democracy.”
The abduction of Dniprorudne Mayor is the second incident as earlier, Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov was seen on video being led away from a government building in the city by armed men.
But after some time, the Russian-backed Luhansk regional prosecutor came forward to defend the mayor’s detention and claimed that Fedorov had committed terrorism offences and was under investigation.
On Facebook, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called Fedorov’s detention an “abduction,” and posted that this aggression is accompanied by “gross violations of norms and principles of international law, including international humanitarian law, war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as other human rights violations by the Russian military.”
The Foreign Ministry said that the abduction of the mayor is classified as a war crime under the Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols that prohibit civilian hostages like Fedorov from being taken.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the war situation in Ukraine with Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and sought his help for the release of the Melitopol mayor.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis condemned the “massacre” in Ukraine and said the “unacceptable armed aggression” must stop. Speaking to thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday blessing, Francis also said the bombing of hospitals and other civilian targets was “barbaric” and with “no valid strategic reason”. “In the name of God I ask you: stop this massacre,” he said.