'Message To NATO' As Russian Missiles Obliterate Base Near Poland That Housed U.S. Troops

Russian Missiles Obliterate Base Near Poland That Previously Housed US Troops

TYLER DURDEN

Starting by Thursday and Friday, there began to be an alarming uptick in Russia striking targets in Ukraine's West near the border with Poland, in what we and others described a likely "message to NATO" warning against outside intervention from Western countries.

On Sunday there are fresh reports of more major attacks, this time coming a mere ten miles from the Polish border, following the heels of the Kremlin warning NATO that its military will strike any external arms shipments that are inbound.

The Wall Street Journal, citing Ukrainian sources, said 35 were killed at a military training center: "Eight missiles hit the facility at Yavoriv, a base where until last month the U.S. National Guard trained Ukrainian troops," the report says. "Shortly after the strike, ambulances were seen rushing toward the base, and troops were seen leaving."

"Footage on social media showed destroyed buildings and a parade ground strewn with debris, with smoke rising from the ruins," WSJ continues. "The strike injured 134 people and destroyed and damaged some barracks, according to the governor’s office in Lviv."

The fresh attack on Yavoriv is being taken also as a clear warning to Washington, again given it was a well-known site which previously housed US military trainers engaged in short-term missions to support Ukrainian national forces prior to the invasion began. Training was going on up until earlier in February.

Setting the stage for a potential major escalation with Western and NATO powers, the Kremlin warned on Saturday that the Russian military is prepared to target Western arms shipments that are continuing to pour into Ukraine. 

Russia's Deputy FM Sergei Ryabkov said on state TV that Washington had been informed in the last days that Moscow will see weapons supply convoys entering Ukraine as "legitimate targets". 

"We warned the United States that the orchestrated pumping of weapons from a number of countries is not just a dangerous move, it is a move that turns these convoys into legitimate targets," Ryabkov said in the remarks, which served as a severe warning to the West.

The Sunday action against a training facility so close to the Polish border comes as "Moscow has shown off its ability to bomb targets throughout the country even as its ground troops near Kyiv have faced setbacks" - the WSJ underscores of the attack.