Poltava, Ukraine – Dozens of people were killed on Tuesday in a Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, one of the deadliest strikes of the two-and-a-half-year war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to hold “Russian scum” accountable for the attack on a military education facility and nearby hospital, which killed at least 41 and wounded another 180.
The strike triggered anger on Ukrainian social media after unconfirmed reports said it had targeted an outdoor military ceremony, with many blaming reckless behavior from officials who allowed the event to take place despite the threat of Russian attacks.
Zelensky said he had ordered a “full and prompt investigation into all the circumstances of what happened.”
“More than 180 people were injured. Unfortunately, there are many dead. As of now, 41 people have been reported dead,” Zelensky said in a post on social media.
Two Russian ballistic missiles hit the hospital and an educational institution, partially destroying one of the buildings, Zelensky said.
“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 defense ministry said.