Two ballistic missiles have blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in Ukraine, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 200 others, Ukrainian officials said.
It is one of the deadliest Russian strikes since the war began.
The missiles tore into the heart of the Poltava Military Institute of Communication’s main building, causing several storeys to collapse.
I received preliminary reports on the Russian strike in Poltava. According to available information, two ballistic missiles hit the area. They targeted an educational institution and a nearby hospital, partially destroying one of the telecommunications institute's buildings.… pic.twitter.com/TNppPr1OwF
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 3, 2024
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It did not take long for the smell of smoke and word of the deadly strike to spread through the central-eastern town.
“People found themselves under the rubble. Many were saved,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
He has ordered an investigation.
Shattered bricks were visible inside the closed gates of the institution, which was off-limits to the media, and small pools of blood could be seen just outside hours later.
Field communications trucks were parked along the perimeter.
Roads were covered in glass shards from shattered apartment windows.
“I heard explosions … I was at home at that time. When I left the house, I realised that it was something evil and something bad,” said Yevheniy Zemskyy, who arrived to volunteer his help.
“I was worried about the children, the residents of Poltava. That’s why we are here today to help our city in any way we can.”
By Tuesday evening, the death toll stood at 51, according to the general prosecutor’s office.
Filip Pronin, governor of the region that bears Poltava’s name, announced on Telegram that 219 people were wounded.
Up to 18 people may be buried under the rubble, he said.
Ten apartment buildings were damaged, and more than 150 people donated blood, Mr Pronin said.
He called it “a great tragedy” for the region and all of Ukraine, and announced three days of mourning starting on Wednesday.
The academy trains officers in communications and electronics, honing some of the most valued skills in a war where both sides are fighting for control of the electronic battlefield.
“The enemy certainly must answer for all (its) crimes against humanity,” Mr Pronin wrote on Telegram.
It was not immediately clear whether the dead and wounded were limited to military personnel, such as signal corps trainees, or if they included civilians.
Since it embarked on its full-scale invasion in early 2022, the Russian military has repeatedly used missiles to smash civilian targets, sometimes killing scores of people in a single attack.
Some of the deadliest such assaults included a 2022 air strike on a theatre in Mariupol that killed hundreds of civilians sheltering in the basement and a strike that same year on the train station in Kramatorsk that killed 61.
Apartment buildings, markets and shopping centres have also been targeted.
Poltava is about 350 kilometres (200 miles) southeast of Kyiv, on the main highway and rail route between Kyiv and Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is close to the Russian border.
The attack happened as Ukrainian forces sought to carve out their holdings in Russia’s Kursk border region after a surprise incursion that began on August 6 and as the Russian army hacks its way deeper into eastern Ukraine.
The missiles hit shortly after an air-raid alert sounded, when many people were on their way to a bomb shelter, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said, describing the strike as “barbaric”.
Rescue crews and medics saved 25 people, including 11 who were dug out of the rubble, a Defence Ministry statement said.
The strike came on the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia.
There was no indication that his hosts would heed demands to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes.
Mr Zelensky repeated his appeal for Ukraine’s Western partners to ensure swift delivery of military aid.
The Ukrainian president has previously chided the US and European countries for being slow to make good on their pledges of help.
He also wants them to ease restrictions on what Ukraine can target on Russian soil with the weapons they provide.
Some countries fear that hitting Russia could escalate the war.
“Ukraine needs air defence systems and missiles now, not sitting in storage,” Mr Zelensky wrote in English on Telegram.
“Long-range strikes that can protect us from Russian terror are needed now, not later. Every day of delay, unfortunately, means more lost lives,” he said.
