| Yavoriv military base | |
|---|---|
| Yavoriv,Lviv Oblast in Ukraine | |
 A checkpoint at the Yavoriv facility | |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Ministry of Defence (Ukraine) |
| Location | |
  Yavoriv military base  Yavoriv military base | |
| Coordinates | 50°00′24.1″N23°30′02.3″E / 50.006694°N 23.500639°E /50.006694; 23.500639 |
| Area | 39,000hectares (390 km2) |
| Site history | |
| Battles/wars | 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine |
TheInternational Center for Peacemaking and Security (Ukrainian:Міжнаро́дний центр миротво́рчості та безпе́ки,romanized: Mizhnarodnyi tsentr myrotvorchosti ta bezpeky), also known as theYavoriv military base (Я́ворівський військовий поліго́н),[a] is a military training facility of theArmed Forces of Ukraine in the city ofYavoriv in western Ukraine, some 10 km from theborder with Poland and 30 kilometers northwest ofLviv in Yavoriv district. The facility houses an International Center for Peacekeeping and Security within the framework of theUkraine–NATOPartnership for Peace program and the National Military Academy Hetman Petro Sahaidatschnyj. The base covers an area of around 390 km2 (151 sq miles) and can accommodate up to 1,790 people.[1][2] The course covers an area of 36,153 hectares; until the creation of theYavoriv National Park, it was 42,000 hectares in size.[3]
Modern Yavoriv military training area was founded in 1940. A former military training area, originally established under Austrian rule, and then occupied by the Polish army after their attack on Ukraine, was used. Therefore, this military training area had existed here before theSoviet occupation of eastern Poland in 1939 and theSoviet annexation of western Ukraine. Under Soviet occupation, on February 13, 1940, theUSSR passed a resolution on the evacuation of 30 villages, the area of which was needed for the expansion of the square.[4][need quotation to verify]
A total of 125,000 people were forcibly resettled from the area, and 170 villages andhamlets became deserts. The inhabitants were taken to southernBessarabia to villages that had recently become free during the evacuation ofBessarabian Germans to theGerman Reich.[citation needed]
From 1941 to 1944, the area was used by theGerman Wehrmacht as a military training area inGalicia namedTruppenübungsplatz Galizien. Later, the Red Army used the area again and from 1991 the Ukrainian Armed Forces.[citation needed]
The International Peacekeeping and Security Centre (IPSC) was formed in 2007 to aid in the training of personnel from theUkrainian Armed Forces, particularly for peacekeeping missions. The IPSC also provides training to foreign state military units which provide forces to peacekeeping missions and in the fight against terrorism. In 2016, the JMTC's Fearless Guardian II program trained soldiers in first aid, counter-unmanned aerial vehicle tactics and dealing with counter-IEDs.[5]
In September 2015 NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) ran thejoint exercise "Ukraine 2015" with more than 1,100 participants, including first responders, search and rescue teams and experts dealing with the fallout from a chemical or nuclear attack.[6]
During the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Yavoriv military facility was hit by a Russian missile strike early on 13 March 2022. According to Ukrainian officials, 30 rockets were fired at the base, killing 35 and injuring 134 others.[2] Ukrainian officials also reported that as many as 1000 foreign fighters had been training at the base as part of theUkrainian Foreign Legion.[7] TheRussian Ministry of Defence announced that it had destroyed "up to 180 foreign mercenaries and a large consignment of foreign weapons" and said that Russia would continue attacks on foreign fighters in Ukraine; theUkrainian Ministry of Defence said that it had not confirmed any foreigners among the dead.[8] On 14 March, British newspaperThe Mirror said that at least three British ex-special forces may have been killed in the strikes, with the total amount of dead volunteers potentially surpassing one hundred.[9][10]
Ukraine's Defence MinisterOleksii Reznikov described the strike as a "terrorist attack on peace and security near the EU-NATO border".[2] ANATO official said that there was no NATO personnel in Ukraine.[11]
In April 2025, theSecurity Service of Ukraine arrested an instructor at the facility on suspicion of plotting to assassinate base commanders on behalf of the RussianFederal Security Service and theGRU.[12]