(Bloomberg) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated his call for air defense systems after Russian missiles killed more than 50 people in one of the deadliest attacks since the Kremlin invasion in February 2022.
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The attack in Poltava early Tuesday morning killed 51 people and wounded more than 200, Ukraine’s Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement, after two Russian ballistic missiles struck a military school building and a nearby hospital in the central Ukrainian city.
The strike has partially destroyed the building of the communications institute and many people are trapped under the rubble, Zelenskiy said in a Telegram message on Tuesday.
Russia has stepped up airstrikes on Ukraine, last week unleashing the largest barrage since the start of the war, with more than 100 missiles fired at energy infrastructure across the country. The attack came after Kiev invaded Russia’s Kursk region, prompting tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes.
“We continue to urge everyone in the world who has the power to stop this terror: Ukraine needs air defense systems and missiles now, not in storage,” Zelenskiy said. “Long-range strikes that can protect us from Russian terror are needed now, not later. Every day of delay means, unfortunately, more lives lost.”
The strike on Poltava, which is more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of Kiev, underscores the dangers of ballistic missiles, which are difficult to intercept because of their high speed and steep trajectory. The time between the air raid siren and the missile strike was too short to warn people to take cover in bomb shelters, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
The attack occurred during classes, when explosions followed air raid sirens within minutes as cadets took cover, military spokesman Dmytro Lazutkin told local television. He said no public gathering or ceremony had taken place at the scene of the attack, contradicting speculation on social media.
Zelenskiy called for a swift investigation into the circumstances of the strike. Poltava Governor Filip Pronin declared a three-day period of mourning in the region, according to a post on his Telegram channel.
–With assistance from Patrick Donahue.
(Updated with the new number of victims from the first paragraph.)
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