At least 41 people were killed and 180 injured in a Russian missile strike that targeted a military institute in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, two ballistic missiles hit “an educational institution and a nearby hospital.” “One of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was partially destroyed. People found themselves under the rubble,” he said on Telegram.
“More than 180 people were injured. Unfortunately, there are many deaths. At the moment, 41 people have been declared dead,” Volodymyr Zelensky continued.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the strike took place in a very short time between the air raid alert and the arrival of the two missiles. “They surprised people evacuating to the underground shelter,” it explained.
“Thanks to the coordinated work of rescuers and doctors, 25 people were rescued, 11 of whom were able to be freed from the rubble. Rescuers are currently continuing their work,” the ministry added.
An official outdoor military ceremony?
Ukrainian military bloggers, for their part, claimed that the missiles had targeted an official outdoor military ceremony. Member of Parliament Mariana Bezugla, a member of the parliament’s Defense Committee and a strong critic of the Ukrainian military command, expressed regret on Telegram that no high-ranking officers had been punished for endangering groups of servicemen during similar incidents in the past.
“Tragedies keep happening. When will it stop?” she wrote. The Ukrainian president said he had ordered “a full and prompt investigation” into the circumstances that allowed the Russian attack.
He also promised to hold Russia “accountable” and once again called on kyiv’s Western allies to urgently deliver more air defense systems and to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with the long-range missiles it has been supplied with.