Russian missiles strike Ukrainian military range near Poland, killing dozens

NATO troops have for years deployed to the military facility, about 15 miles from the Polish border, also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, for training alongside Ukrainian troops, with Americans on-site as recently as February.

Ukrainian authorities said earlier they were trying to determine whether foreigners were there Sunday, while a NATO official, speaking under condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said the military alliance had no personnel inside the country.

Sunday’s attack hit a region in Ukraine’s west that had so far seen less fighting than eastern cities closer to the frontier with Russia, which have been pummeled by airstrikes and choked off by sieges since Russian tanks rolled in across the border over two weeks ago. Waves of people seeking refuge from violence further east have poured into Lviv, which has become a hub for the internally displaced.

The barrage of missiles slammed into the base near Lviv a day after the Kremlin warned that it viewed Western weapons shipments as “legitimate targets,” heightening the possibility of a direct confrontation. There was no immediate comment from Moscow on Sunday.

The Lviv regional governor accused Russia of firing 30 missiles at the Yavoriv facility from the direction of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, warning that “the shelling is approaching the borders of NATO countries.”

Ukraine’s air defense system shot down many of them and authorities had put out fires at the site, he added.

Members of the National Guard were training there with Ukrainian forces up until February, until Washington ordered U.S. troops to leave the country in the buildup to the Russian onslaught. “There are no NATO personnel in Ukraine,” a NATO official told The Washington Post after Sunday’s incident.

“Do you understand that war is closer than you imagine?” the Lviv mayor said in a Telegram message, addressing the United States and the European Union.

Until last month, the center had been home since 2015 to a rotational presence of U.S. troops who were training and advising Ukrainian forces about a half-hour drive from the Polish border. The unit, Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine, most recently included about 150 members of the Florida National Guard, who were reassigned elsewhere in Europe.

Annabelle Chapman, Dan Lamothe, Rachel Pannett and Gerry Shih contributed to this report.