At least 51 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the Russian missile strike, which took place on Tuesday morning, September 3, on Poltava, a city located about 300 kilometers east of kyiv and which had some 300,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion.
More than 50 people were killed and hundreds injured on Tuesday, September 3, in a Russian missile strike on the city of Poltava in central Ukraine.
· The deadliest strike since the start of the conflict
At least 51 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the Russian missile strike, which took place in the morning on Poltava, a city located about 300 kilometers east of kyiv and which had some 300,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion.
The strike took place in a very short time between the air raid alert and the arrival of the two missiles. “They surprised people evacuating to the underground shelter,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry explained.
The attack is one of the deadliest since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as the country continues to be bombarded daily by Vladimir Putin’s army.
· Three buildings affected, including a military institute
The strike partially destroyed a military institute and hit an educational institution and a nearby hospital in Poltava.
“One of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was partially destroyed. People were found under the rubble,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message, speaking about the institution founded in the 1960s and which trains specialists in military telecommunications.
The strike has sparked anger among Ukrainian military bloggers, who, like Russia, have some influence due to the war. According to some of them, the Russian military was aiming for an official military ceremony in the open air, meaning a large concentration of soldiers made them an easy target.
“Poltava… How did such a large number of people get gathered in such a facility?” asked blogger Sergei Naumovitch, followed by more than 135,000 people on Facebook.
MP Mariana Bezugla, a member of the parliament’s defense committee and a strong critic of the Ukrainian military command, expressed regret on Telegram that no high-ranking officers had been punished for endangering groups of servicemen during similar incidents in the past.
“The tragedies keep happening. When will it stop?” she wrote.
The Ministry of Defense assured for its part that no open-air ceremony was taking place at the time of the tragedy.
· An open investigation
The Ukrainian president said he had ordered “a full and rapid investigation” into the circumstances that led to the Russian attack.
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He also promised to hold Russia “accountable” and once again called on kyiv’s Western allies to urgently deliver more air defense systems and allow Ukraine to reach deep into Russian territory with the long-range missiles it has been supplied with.
· International condemnation
The bombing was condemned by British Foreign Minister David Lammy, who called it “a sickening act of aggression in Putin’s heinous and illegal war in Ukraine.”
“Putin’s brutality knows no bounds,” said his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock.
