KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least 51 people were killed and over 200 others were injured in a Russian attack Tuesday on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, which hit a military educational facility. “More than 200 people were injured. Unfortunately, there are many dead. As of now, 51 people have been reported dead,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported that two Russian ballistic missiles struck a hospital and an educational institution, partially destroying one of the institute’s buildings. The short interval between the air raid sirens and the arrival of the missiles left residents and staff with little time to seek shelter. “The time interval between the alarm and the arrival of the deadly missiles was so short that it caught people in the middle of evacuating to the bomb shelter,” the ministry said.
Rescue operations are underway, with emergency teams having saved 25 persons, including 11 who were trapped under the rubble. Russian military bloggers had said that the strike targeted an outdoor ceremony.
Ukrainian MP Maria Bezugla, who regularly criticizes Ukraine’s military leadership, blamed high-ranking officials for endangering soldiers by allowing such events. “These tragedies keep repeating themselves. When will it stop?” she posted on Telegram.
Zelensky ordered an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the strike and called for more air defence equipment from Ukraine’s Western partners.
Zelensky has urged Western partners to provide additional air defence systems to bolster Ukraine’s ability to protect its civilian and military infrastructure. “We must ensure that such tragedies do not recur. The scale of the destruction is immense, and the loss of life is tragic,” Zelensky said in a statement.
The Russian strike has intensified tensions in the region, coming on the heels of a significant Ukrainian drone offensive targeting Russian territory. Over the weekend, Ukraine conducted one of its largest drone attacks to date, hitting a refinery and a power station deep inside Russia. Social media footage showed plumes of smoke rising from locations in Moscow and the neighboring Tver region.
Russian officials have acknowledged the scale of the Ukrainian drone assault but have attempted to downplay its impact. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 158 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were intercepted and destroyed by air defences across 15 regions, including Moscow. Despite this, the mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, confirmed that one of the downed drones caused a fire at an oil refinery, though no casualties were reported.
In Tver, the region’s governor, Igor Rudenya, stated that a fire caused by a drone strike on the Konakovo district has been extinguished, and services such as gas and electricity have returned to normal operations.
Ukrainian forces continued their offensive in the Kursk region, which began with a cross-border incursion on August 6. Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the challenges faced by people in the Kursk region due to the Ukrainian efforts but maintained that the offensive in the eastern Donbas region remains unaffected.
Ukrainian President Zelensky has indicated that the Kursk offensive is progressing as planned, though he admitted to ongoing difficulties in the eastern cities of Pokrovsk and Toretsk.
