50 die as Russian missiles target Poltava in Ukraine

Two ballistic missiles blasted a military training facility and nearby hospital Tuesday in Ukraine, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 200 others, Ukrainian officials said, in one of the deadliest Russian strikes since the war began.

The strike hit the central-eastern city of Poltava, the capital of the region of the same name, partially destroying a building used by the Poltava Military Institute of Communications, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“People found themselves under the rubble. Many were saved,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

He said he ordered "a full and prompt investigation." Shattered bricks were visible inside the closed gates of the institution, which was off-limits to the media, and pools of blood could be seen just outside. Field communications trucks were parked along the perimeter.

Hours after the missile strikes, the smell of smoke had spread through town. Roads were covered in glass shards from shattered windows.

Poltava Gov Filip Pronin announced the death toll on Telegram and said 219 people were wounded. Up to 18 people may be buried under the rubble, he said.

He called it “a great tragedy” for the region and all of Ukraine.

"The enemy certainly must answer for all (its) crimes against humanity," Pronin wrote on Telegram.