In one of the deadliest Russian strikes since the war began, two ballistic missiles blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in Ukraine on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 200 others, Ukrainian officials said. The missiles tore into the heart of the Poltava Military Institute of Communication's main building, causing several stories to collapse, the AP reports. It didn't take long for the smell of smoke and word of the deadly strike to spread through the central-eastern town. Poltava is about 200 miles southeast of Kyiv, on the main highway and rail route between the capital and Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv.
"People found themselves under the rubble. Many were saved," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video posted on his Telegram channel. He ordered an investigation. By Tuesday evening, the death toll stood at 51, according to the general prosecutor's office. Filip Pronin, governor of the region that bears Poltava's name, announced on Telegram that 219 people were wounded. Up to 18 people may be buried under the rubble, he said. Ten apartment buildings were damaged, and more than 150 people donated blood, Pronin said. He called it "a great tragedy" for the region and all of Ukraine, and announced three days of mourning starting Wednesday.
The academy trains officers in communications and electronics, as well as drone operators, honing some of the most valued skills in a war where both sides are fighting for control of the electronic battlefield. The Kremlin offered no immediate comment on the strike. It was not clear whether the dead and wounded were limited to Ukrainian military personnel, such as signal corps cadets, or if they included civilians. The missiles hit shortly after an air-raid alert sounded, when many people were on their way to a bomb shelter, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said, describing the strike as "barbaric."
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