Russian strike on base in western Ukraine brings war even closer to NATO's border

The attack on the Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, a training base just 25 km from the Polish border that has previously hosted NATO military instructors

A smoke from shelling rises as a wreath of flowers is placed at a cemetery in Vasylkiv southwest of Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday, killing 35 people and wounding 134, a local official said, in an escalation of the war to the west of the country as intense fighting was reported elsewhere.

Russia's defence ministry said the airstrike had destroyed a large amount of weapons supplied by foreign nations that were being stored at the sprawling training facility, and that it had killed "up to 180 foreign mercenaries".