Advertisement
Ukraine war
WorldEurope

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

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
6

02:07

Russian missiles hit Yavoriv military base in western Ukraine near Polish border

Russian missiles hit Yavoriv military base in western Ukraine near Polish border
Agencies

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.

While western Ukraine has largely been spared so far, Russian air strikes overnight Saturday into Sunday carried the war deep into the west, killing 35 people and wounding 134 at a military base near Yavoriv, outside the city of Lviv – which is dangerously close to the frontier with EU and Nato member Poland.

“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.

Advertisement