At least 51 people were killed and hundreds wounded in a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Poltava on Tuesday, officials said, in one of the deadliest attacks of the two-and-a-half-year war.
kyiv said the attack hit a military training center and a nearby hospital, although officials did not say how many of the victims were military or civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to hold what he called “Russian scum” accountable as rescuers worked to clear the rubble.
“According to the information available now, this Russian attack killed 51 people,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
“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,” Zelensky said.
Berlin, London and Washington condemned the strike.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the attack was “another horrific reminder of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's brutality,” adding that the US would send more military aid to kyiv in the coming weeks.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called it a “sickening act of aggression”, while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Putin's brutality “knows no bounds”.
Complete investigation
The attack sparked anger on Ukrainian social media after unconfirmed reports said the attack had targeted an outdoor military ceremony, with many blaming the reckless behavior of officials who allowed the event to go ahead despite the threat of Russian attacks.
Zelensky said he had ordered a “full and prompt investigation into all circumstances.”
Two Russian ballistic missiles hit the hospital and the educational institution, partially destroying one of the buildings, Zelensky said.
The attack took place in the morning in Poltava, a pre-war city of about 300,000 people, about 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of kyiv.
“The window flew open and there was dust everywhere. I had time to tell my sister that a rocket was flying,” said Yevgeniya Chyrva, a resident in a building damaged in the attack.
The Ministry of Defence explained that the time elapsed between the alarm and the arrival of the missiles was “so short that it caught people in the middle of evacuating to the bomb shelter.”
The Poltava Institute of Military Communications, founded in the 1960s when Ukraine was part of the USSR, specializes in training telecommunications specialists.
“One of the buildings of the institute was partially destroyed and many people were trapped under the rubble,” the Ministry of Defence said.
An AFP journalist present at the scene saw several ambulances heading to the affected area shortly after the attack on the military institute.
Rescue teams were still working after managing to save 25 people, including 11 trapped under the rubble, the Defense Ministry said.
More pain
Official channels and local media shared messages urging locals to donate blood to help treat the injured.
At the same time, criticism of Ukrainian officials began to circulate online.
“Poltava… How can so many people gather in such a place?” asks blogger Sergei Naumovich.
Some Russian military bloggers reported that the attack targeted an open-air ceremony.
Poltava Governor Philip Pronin said his administration could not provide further details of the circumstances of the attack “for security reasons.”
“The enemy is using all means to cause more pain to Ukraine and disorient Ukrainians. Please, rely only on reliable sources,” he said.
Ukrainian MP Maria Bezugla, who regularly criticises the country's military leadership, accused senior officials of endangering soldiers by allowing such events.
“These tragedies are happening again and again. When will they end?” he posted on Telegram.
The attack follows another recent scandal for Ukraine's military command after a US-made F-16 fighter jet crashed in combat last week, killing the pilot.
The F-16 crash was a high-profile setback for kyiv, which had lobbied the West for months to send the advanced fighter jet, and led to the dismissal of the country's air force chief, Mykola Oleshchuk.
