Russia brings war closer to NATO doorsteps; bombs base in Poland border

Russia on Sunday brought the war closer to the doorsteps of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation when it missiles pounded a Ukrainian military base close to the Polish border.

At least 35 people are reported to have been killed and many injured in the missile attacks on the Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, a dozen miles away from the Polish border.

Even though foreign military instructors have previously worked at the base, it was unclear whether any foreign nationals were at the base during the attack. 

Ukrainian officials Russian aircraft fired around 30 rockets at the military training base. However, some were intercepted before they hit, they said. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a number of ambulances coming in from the direction of the military base near the Polish border

The 360sq km Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping and Security is less than 25km from the Polish border. The facility is one of Ukraine's biggest and the largest in the western part of the country. To note, Ukraine conducts a majority of its drills with NATO nations at this base.

Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that Russian forces will face a fight to the death if they tried to move into the capital Kyiv. 

According to the United Kingdom's defence ministry, Russian forces are advancing from Kharkiv in the north and Mariupol in the south to surround Ukrainian forces in the east of the country.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in an interview in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, has said that Russia might use chemical weapons following its invasion of Ukraine.