A Russian missile attack on a military training center and a nearby hospital in central Ukraine killed at least 51 people and wounded more than 200 on Tuesday, officials in the country said.
Two ballistic missiles hit an “educational institution” and a nearby hospital in the city of Poltava, 190 miles southeast of the capital Kiev, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message on the Telegram messaging app. He added that one of the buildings of the Poltava Military Institute of Communication was partially destroyed.
NBC News was able to find a video showing damage to the 179th Training Center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Signal Troops in Poltava.
A photo circulating on social media, also linked to the center, showed the bodies of at least five people in military uniforms lying in the rubble. One person lies in a pool of blood and is missing a hand.
Zelenskyy said 41 people had been killed in the strikes, but the prosecutor general’s office later said 51 people had been killed and more than 200 injured.
The facility was targeted by two Iskander-M ballistic missiles, the statement said. “Rescuers, an investigation and operations group and other services are working at the site and the clearing of the debris is still ongoing,” it added.
NBC News could not independently verify the death toll or the type of weapons used. Russia has not commented on the incident, but some of the country’s influential military bloggers had reported that a deadly attack had been carried out on a military site hours before the Ukrainian announcement.
It appears to be one of the deadliest attacks on Ukraine since the war began some 2½ years ago. A rocket attack on Kiev in July also killed 41 people.
“Poltava is experiencing a terrible day today,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that “one of the city’s educational institutions” was hit.
“The time interval between the alarm and the arrival of the deadly rockets was so short that it hit people just as they were evacuating to the shelter,” it added.
According to Zelenskyy, some people were trapped under the rubble, but many were rescued.
“I have ordered a full and prompt investigation into all the circumstances of what happened,” he said. “All necessary services are involved in the rescue operation.”
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a separate message that rescuers had brought the fire under control and were still clearing the rubble, adding that 11 people had been pulled from the rubble.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
