Pentagon spokesperson says it appears "Russians are broadening their target set" after strike near Lviv
A Russian airstrike that targeted the Yavoriv training facility near Lviv in western Ukraine on Sunday is the third airstrike in western Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing at the Pentagon on Monday.
With the latest strike, “it certainly appears as if the Russians are broadening their target set,” Kirby added.
The training facility was the location where Florida National Guard members had been doing their training before they left Ukraine before the invasion, Kirby said. No US contractors, civilians or government personnel were at the facility when it was hit, Kirby said.
This site was not one of the routes where US has been getting security assistance to Ukraine, Kirby added.
The Pentagon does not believe that Russia’s strike on a military training facility was a sign that Russia was targeting the delivery of foreign security assistance to Ukraine.
“We’re not looking at this strike as an effort to go after the delivery of security assistance to Ukraine,” Kirby said.
“I’m not going to talk about all the modalities of how we’re continuing to find ways to help Ukraine defense itself,” Kirby added. “We’re going to continue to get as much security assistance to the Ukrainians as fast as we can and in the most efficient, effective way. And there’s lot of diff ways that we’re pursuing that.”
Kirby also said during the briefing that the airspace over Ukraine remains “contested."
“We still assess that Russia does not have air superiority over Ukraine and that the Ukrainians are defending their space ably,” Kirby said.
“It's contested because the Ukrainians are, are finding ways to continue to try to defend their airspace and preserve their own mobility and maneuver space,” he added.
A defense official earlier today echoed Kirby's comments regarding Ukraine's airspace, adding that the airspace is “dynamic” and there are “times and places” where Russia or Ukraine “has more dominance.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine as Russia continues strikes across the country. The US and NATO have opposed creating a no-fly zone in Ukraine, warning that such a move could lead to a "full-fledged war in Europe."
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