Ukrainian official says 35 dead in Russian missile attack near Polish border

At least 35 people were killed on Sunday when a Russian strike hit a base near the Polish border as the violence continues in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Lviv Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi announced that the strikes killed at least 35 people and injured 134 others, according to The Associated Press.

Russian forces deployed more than 30 cruise missiles aimed at a training center in Yavoriv, according to the AP. It is less than 15 miles from Ukraine’s closest border with Poland, the AP reported, citing Kozytskyi.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security in the Ukrainian government wrote on Twitter that the strike was “thought to be the westernmost carried out by #Russia in 18 days of the war.”

Most of the missiles dispatched “were shot down because the air defense system worked,” Kozytskyi said, according to the AP.

The base is also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, according to the AP. It has hosted international drills with NATO and has served as a facility to train Ukrainian military forces, with instructors sometimes hailing from the U.S. and other NATO nations.

Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov wrote on Twitter on Sunday that foreign instructors were on the base when the attack occurred. He called the incident a “terrorist attack” and called for a no-fly zone over the country.

“This is new terrorist attack on peace&security near the EU-NATO border,” Reznikov wrote. “Action must be taken to stop this.Close the sky!”

He also said information about victims of the attack “is being clarified.”

The strike on the facility in Yavoriv came in the third week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began last month when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military operation in the country.