Russia killed 41 people in Ukraine in a single massive airstrike
A file photo of a 2022 Russian airstrike on a Ukrainian city. It does not depict the strike on Poltava in September 2024.
Russia killed at least 41 people and injured 180 in an airstrike on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday.
Two ballistic missiles struck the city of Poltava, Zelenskyy said, citing preliminary information.
He said that the death and injury figures were also provisional.
They dwarf the scale of Russia’s regular missile-and-drone attacks on Ukraine.
The Ukrainian defense ministry said the attack was so deadly because it came without much warning, and struck before people could reach bomb shelters.
Per Zelenskyy, the strike hit the Poltava Military Communications Institute, a medical facility, and an unspecified educational facility.
The Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko shared a video of the aftermath in a post on X.
The Military Institute of Communications released a photo of a mourning candle image in a Facebook post with no statement.
In a Telegram post, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said 25 people were rescued, 11 of whom were under the rubble, and that all victims were given medical care.
