Russian forces launched a missile attack on Poltava on Tuesday, Sept. 3, striking the city with two ballistic missiles just minutes after an air raid alert was issued.
As of 6 p.m. the Prosecutor General’s office confirmed that 51 people had been killed and over 200 wounded.
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The attack, which occurred at approximately 9:10 a.m., targeted an educational institution and a nearby hospital, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky described the attack as one of the deadliest strikes by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale war.
The White House on Tuesday condemned the attack saying it showed the need to urgently strengthen Kyiv’s air defenses.
The attack was “another horrific reminder of Putin’s brutality towards the people in Ukraine,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, adding that the US would send more military aid to Kyiv in the coming weeks.
The UK government called the attack “sickening.”
Germany said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s brutality “knows no limits.”
“He must be held accountable,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“People were trapped under the rubble. Many were rescued,” Zelensky stated.
The attack partially destroyed one of the buildings of the Military Institute of Communications, trapping several people under the rubble. Rescue operations are ongoing, with 25 people already saved, including 11 pulled from the debris.
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Russian Telegram channels claim that the strike was aimed at Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel during their formation, which initially involved over 500 soldiers.
“The enemy’s losses are in the hundreds,” Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the Commission on Sovereignty, Patriotic Projects and Support for Veterans of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, wrote in his Telegram channel.
At the same time, Ukrainian military communications specialist Serhii Beskrestnov expressed condolences to his “fellow signalmen” following the attack.
Ukrainian authorities have yet to confirm or deny the reports.
Ukrainian military Telegram channels rule out Russian propagandists’ claims, saying that Russian missiles targeted the building itself, not the “military formation.”
“A missile strike on an educational institution results in a 100 percent loss of personnel; it always involves a crowd of people, no matter the circumstances. The missiles targeted the premises, not a formation (the existence of which is still uncertain),” the Sniper Speaks Telegram channel wrote.
First Lady Olena Zelenska called the attack a “stunning tragedy for all of Ukraine.”
This story is updated as new information becomes available. It includes reporting from AFP.
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