Russia Says It Struck Base With ‘Foreign Mercenaries’ in Ukraine

Russia's MiG-31 supersonic interceptor jets carrying hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles fly over the Red Square during a military parade in Moscow, Russia, on May 9, 2018. Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images

Russian officials on Sunday claimed they struck another Ukrainian base that purportedly served as a training center for special operations forces, killing more than 100. At the same time, Ukrainian authorities alleged Russian forces bombed an art school in a besieged city.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said via state-run media that “high-precision air-launched missiles“ struck a base in Ovruch in the northern Zhytomyr Region, located in north-central Ukraine. Those who were killed in the airstrike were ”foreign mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine” in recent days, he said, according to state-backed RIA Novosti.

Konashenkov did not provide evidence for the claim that the base was being used by foreign mercenaries or Ukrainian special operations forces. Ukrainian officials have not issued public comments on Konashenkov’s statement on Sunday.

Over the weekend, Moscow also said it used hypersonic missiles to destroy Ukrainian military assets. It’s the first time Russia has acknowledged using such weapons in the monthlong conflict.

A view shows a damaged building at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant compound, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released March 17, 2022. Press Service of National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom/Handout via REUTERS

Smoke billows out from the Lviv Airport after an early morning airstrike hit an aircraft repair plant, in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

In that incident, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, a large underground storage facility for missiles and aviation ammunition in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankovsk region was destroyed by the missile. There were reports that Russia may have used the Kinzhal air-to-ground missile, which is claimed to have a speed of Mach 10.

As Russian officials made the claims, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that Russia’s military bombed an art school sheltering some 400 people in the embattled port city of Mariupol.

“So far, there is no exact operational data on how many people were hiding in the shelter or the number of casualties. I expect we will have it later today. But the situation is difficult and there is nowhere to get the data from,” said Petro Andrushenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayoral office, in a statement Sunday.

It was the second time in less than a week that city officials reported a public building where residents had taken shelter coming under attack. A bomb hit a Mariupol theater with more than 1,300 believed to be inside on Wednesday, local officials said. Russia denied bombing the theater.

“To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address to the nation. “The more Russia uses terror against Ukraine, the worse the consequences for it.”

Since the start of the Feb. 24 conflict, the United Nations’ refugee agency said that more than 3 million people have fled Ukraine to nearby countries.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.