Key Points
- A Russian missile strike in Poltava has killed dozens of people, hitting a military training facility and hospital.
- The attack was one of the single deadliest strikes on Ukraine since Russia’s invasion started in 2022.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to hold Russia accountable for the strike.
At least 50 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Poltava, authorities said, in one of the single deadliest strikes of the two-and-a-half-year war.
Ukrainian authorities said the strike hit a military training facility and a nearby hospital on Tuesday, though they did not say how many of the victims were military or civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to hold those responsible accountable, while rescuers worked to clear the rubble.
The emergency service said 50 people had been killed in the strike. Zelenskyy, in his evening address, said that “according to the information available” the strike had killed 51.
“The number of injured is 271. We know that there are people under the rubble of the destroyed building. Everything is being done to save as many lives as possible,” he said.
Foreign minister condemns ‘horrific’ attack
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong condemned Russia’s “horrific” attack on Poltava.
“Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and their loved ones,” she wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday.
“Australia continues to support Ukraine as it fights Russia’s brutal, illegal war.”
The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany also condemned the strike.
The strike triggered anger on Ukrainian social media after unconfirmed reports said it had targeted an outdoor military ceremony, with many blaming officials who allowed the event to take place despite the threat of Russian attacks.
Zelenskyy said he had ordered a “full and prompt investigation into all the circumstances”.
Two Russian ballistic missiles hit the hospital and educational institution, partially destroying one of the buildings, Zelenskyy said.
The strike occurred in the morning in Poltava, a city with a pre-war population of around 300,000 people, some 300km east of Kyiv.
Yevgeniya Chyrva, a resident in a building damaged during the attack, said: “The window blew open. Dust was everywhere. I just had time to tell my sister that a rocket was flying.”
The use of ballistic missiles — which hit targets hundreds of kilometres away within a few minutes of their launch — meant the victims had almost no time to find cover after the air raid siren sounded, the foreign ministry said.
The Poltava military communications institute, founded in the 1960s when Ukraine was part of the USSR, specialises in training telecommunications specialists.
“One of the institute’s buildings was partially destroyed, and many people were trapped under the rubble,” the defence ministry said.
An AFP journalist on the scene saw several ambulances heading towards the affected site shortly after the attack on the military institute.
Rescuers were still at work after managing to save 25 people, including 11 trapped under the rubble, the defence ministry said.
Russia did not immediately comment on the attack.
Fighting has intensified over the past month, with Russian forces advancing in heavy battles in eastern Ukraine while Ukrainian troops have mounted their first large-scale cross-border assault into a Russian region, for which Russia has vowed to retaliate.
Several ministers resign
The Ukrainian government minister overseeing domestic weapons production during the war has tendered his resignation along with several other ministers.
Strategic industries minister Oleksandr Kamyshin, justice minister Denys Maliuska, environment minister Ruslan Strilets and Olha Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister responsible for European integration, are among those who have resigned.
