Poltava Communications Institute — a military university to prepare officers — put a mourning candle image on its Facebook page, issuing no statement. Zelenskyy said an investigation will take place to understand how the attack could happen and kill so many.
Russian media and a Ukrainian MP who is a former member of the parliament’s defense committee reported that, at the moment of the strike, cadets were gathered in formation by a local command. POLITICO was unable to independently verify those reports.
Formation is a gathering of soldiers usually in the open, during announcements, award ceremonies, or other organizational announcements.
Observers on scene disputed that version of events. Roman Punin, a Ukrainian journalist, who joined the army in July and is studying in the university said in a post online there was no formation.
“Formations are held if there is no air raid alarm. Each company has to know which rooms to be in during alarms. Training began at 8.20, the first pair ends at 9.50, air raid alert caught us at 9.10 am. We did not have time to physically leave the auditorium and the building. Because people were coming down from several floors. The first explosion caught us already on the stairs […] Those who were on the street suffered less. Our building received a direct hit,” Punin wrote on Facebook.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that the institute was located not far from civilian residential buildings. Blasts knocked out the windows of many of the residential buildings and damaged the facades. Police are conducting door-to-door visits to check that there are no more casualties.
“Rescuers have contained the fire and are continuing to clear the debris. Thanks to quick and coordinated work, 25 people were saved, 11 of them were pulled out from under the rubble. All victims are immediately transferred to doctors for medical assistance,” Klymenko said.
This story is being updated.