Mariupol, Lyiv - Day 18 of the Russian offensive intensified with strikes on military training base in western Ukraine on Sunday. Residents in Kyiv woke up to sirens at 3.30am on Sunday morning, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Russian forces they face a fight to the death if they try to occupy the capital.
The assaults against the military training base brings the Russian offesives closer to the border with Poland after a senior Russian diplomat warned that Moscow considered foreign shipments of military equipment to Ukraine “legitimate targets.”
Eight rockets were fired at the Yavoriv military range, located 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of Lviv, according to the regional administration. Nine people have been killed and 57 injured in the attack on a military base in western Ukraine, the governor of the Lviv region says.
Local officials said missiles struck the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security in the city of Yavoriv, around 10km (6.2miles) from the Polish border and 60km (37.2 miles) from Lviv city centre.
The United States and NATO have regularly sent instructors to the range, also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, to train Ukrainian military personnel. The facility has also hosted international NATO drills.
In its latest daily intelligence update, the UK's Ministry of Defence said Russian forces were "attempting to envelop" Ukrainian forces in the east of the country as they advanced from the direction of Kharkiv in the north and Mariupol in the south.
HOLD ON
"We still need to hold on. We still have to fight," Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Saturday, his second of the day.
The United States said it would rush up to $200 million in additional small arms, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine, where officials have pleaded for more military aid.
Crisis talks between Moscow and Kyiv have been continuing by video link, said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, according to Russia's RIA news agency. He gave no details, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would not surrender or accept any ultimatums.
The Donetsk region's governor said constant shelling was complicating bringing aid into Mariupol. Fires were burning in the western section of the city and dozens of apartment buildings heavily damaged, according to images taken on Saturday by private U.S. satellite firm Maxar.
'Abducted' mayor replaced
The Russian military has reportedly installed a new mayor in the southern port city of Melitopol - after the alleged abduction of its previous mayor on Friday. Galina Danilchenko appeared on local TV to urge residents not to take part in "extremist actions".
Ukraine on Friday accused Russian forces of violating international law by abducting the mayor of Melitopol. "The abduction of the mayor of Melitopol is classified as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocol, which prohibit the taking of civilian hostages during the war," Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement.
-AP/BBC/Reuters