A Russian attack on a military educational institute in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava on Tuesday killed at least 41 people and injured more than 180, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.
The Ukrainian president said in a video address that according to “preliminary information” the attack was carried out using two ballistic missiles.
“They hit the territory of the educational facility and the nearby hospital. One of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was damaged. People were trapped under the rubble. Many were saved, more than 180 people are injured,” he said.
The attack came in the middle of the day on Tuesday, and if the death count is confirmed it would be one of the deadliest single strikes of the war to date. Poltava is located about 200 miles (300km) south-east of Kyiv, far from the frontlines.
A statement from Ukraine’s ministry of defence said the “time between the air-raid siren and the incoming deadly missile was so short that it caught people at the moment they were evacuating to the shelter”.
It added that rescue crews and medics had saved 25 people on the scene, including 11 who were dug out from the rubble.
Russian Telegram channels described the site of the hit as a military training facility. Poltava hosts a military communications college. It was not immediately clear how many of the victims of the attack were military or civilians.
Russia has struck civilian targets repeatedly throughout the two and a half years of full-scale war, and has continued its relentless air assault on Ukraine this week. It launched a large missile and drone attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Monday, most of which was intercepted by Ukrainian air defence.
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On Monday night, two people were killed in the city of Zaporizhzhia, according to the regional governor, including an eight-year-old boy.