Russia’s defence ministry has admitted responsibility for the rocket attack on the International Centre for Peacekeeping & Security, a military base, near Lviv on Sunday.
It said that the facility in Yavoriv was being used to store military equipment delivered from foreign nations, according to Reuters. A spokesperson said it killed up to 180 “foreign mercenaries” and a “large amount” of weapons.
The defence ministry said it will continue attacks against foreign mercenaries.
Defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov told a briefing Russia had used high precision long-range weapons to strike Yavoriv and a separate facility in the village of Starichi. He claimed both bases were being used to train foreign mercenaries and store weapons.
“As a result of the strike, up to 180 foreign mercenaries and a large amount of foreign weapons were destroyed,” he said.
The attack came one day after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow considered convoys of Western arms shipments to Ukraine to be legitimate targets.
Reuters said it could not independently verify the statements.
Meanwhile, the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Russia will pay a “severe price” if it uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.
He told US TV network CBS’s Face the Nation that any attack on Nato would trigger a full response by the alliance – and that they were looking at the potential threat of a chemical weapons attack.
Sullivan added that they were in direct contact with Moscow to warn against any move.
He said: “The use of weapons of mass destruction would be a shocking additional line that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is crossing in terms of his assault on international law and international norms.”
