MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Bases of the North Atlantic Alliance in Ukraine, if any are ever deployed to the former Soviet republic, will be Russia's legitimate target and will burn, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told RT in an interview, recalling Russia’s attack on the Yarovsky testing ground in Ukraine last year.

"These bases will burn. There once was the Yavorovsky training ground [on Ukrainian soil] where NATO had been training its troops. That target was absolutely legitimate," the Russian diplomat said, when asked how Russia would react were the North Atlantic Alliance to resume training troops in Ukraine or deploying repair centers there at Kiev’s request.

In March 2022, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenko reported that some 180 foreign mercenaries and a large number of foreign equipment had been eliminated in a Russian strike on training centers at the Yavorovsky training ground in the Lvov Region.