Russia targets depot in western Ukraine, advances in east

By JOHN LEICESTER and YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Russian military says it has used long-range missiles to destroy a depot in Ukraine’s western Lviv region where ammunition for NATO-supplied weapons was being stored. That region is close to NATO member Poland. The Russian missile strikes came as fighting raged Wednesday for the city of Sievierodonetsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area. A leading Russian official, meanwhile, suggested that Russia appears intent on not just grabbing territory but eliminating Ukraine as a nation. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, asked in a social media post: “Who said that in two years Ukraine will even exist on the map?”