Now Russia Is Bombing Western Ukraine Right by the NATO Border

Russia’s senseless invasion of Ukraine, which has destroyed a maternity hospital among the many confirmed civilian targets, is shifting its focus west, with an attack on an airport Friday just 70 miles from the Polish—read NATO—border.

It is the first time previously unaffected cities in the country’s west have come under attack with heavy mortars since the first day of the invasion. The airport at Lutsk took substantial fire, pocking its runway and rendering it useless. The airport had been a key link in the supply chain to this point. “High precision long-range weapons attacked Ukraine’s military infrastructure,” Russian Defense tweeted Friday. “The military airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk were put out of action.”

The regional governor confirmed that four missiles were fired from a Russian bomber, killing at least two people. The airport at Ivano-Frankivsk was hit on the day Russia invaded the country, now more than two weeks ago, but has been spared since. On Friday, the United Nations also suggested Russia has used cluster bombs in civilian populations, which constitutes a war crime if proven to be true. “Due to their wide area effects, the use of cluster munitions in populated areas is incompatible with the international humanitarian law principles governing the conduct of hostilities,” UN human-rights spokesperson Liz Throssell said in Geneva on Friday, according to Reuters.

The change in tack was also evident in the disbursement and redeployment of the now infamous 40-mile column of Russian tanks and other machinery that has been idling outside the capital Kyiv for more than 10 days. According to satellite images disseminated by Maxar Technologies, elements from the column, which have been hit hard by Ukrainian forces from air and land, are now in forests and along tree lines near Lubyanka, some with their howitzers in firing position.

Experts say they believe Russia will increase its assault on the capital Kyiv in the coming hours based on the movements of the military. “It is possible that an attack on Kyiv will be carried out in the next few days,” Pascal Ianni told France2 TV on Friday. “But actually taking control of Kyiv is a whole other matter and will take a long, long time.”

The U.K. Ministry of Defense echoed the general sentiment that Russia’s attempt to “reset and reposture” is a reflection of its failure to see any significant gains so far in the war. “It remains highly unlikely that Russia has successfully achieved the objectives outlined in its pre-invasion plan,” the British defense ministry said Friday. “Logistical issues that have hampered the Russian advance persist, as does strong Ukrainian resistance.”

Part of the restructuring also appears to be introducing foreign fighters. Ukraine has had more than 20,000 people express interest in joining its defensive forces. And now Russia’s propaganda television is showing footage of Syrian “volunteer” combatants skilled in urban warfare lining up to help Russia, which provided substantial military assistance to the Syrian government under Bashar Al-Assad during their bloody civil war. Putin is said to have endorsed the move, citing “mercenaries” from the West helping Ukraine fend off his invasion. Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu said 16,000 “volunteers” from the Middle East had expressed interest in joining Russia, according to ABC News, which added that the fighters will be paid a few hundred dollars.

Meanwhile, panic appears to be setting in within Putin’s inner circle, with the Russian leader allegedly firing eight generals and putting the head of his FSB spy arm Sergei Beseda and his deputy under house arrest, according to Andrei Soldatov, a Daily Beast contributor and head of argentura.ru media outlet.

Russia instead insists that the war is on target. “All is going according to the plan, we report to you here every day this week,” Sergei Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a televised Security Council Meeting on Friday, according to CNN.

While the battle rages on and now spreads west, more than 2.5 million people from Ukraine have fled through Romania, Poland and Moldova, and are now making their way into the rest of Europe. Germany has so far accepted more than 100,000 refugees and other countries are preparing for tens of thousands of displaced people.

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