Reuters Agency

Two ballistic missiles exploded at a military academy and a nearby hospital in Ukraine on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 200 others, Ukrainian officials said.

The shells struck the heart of the main building of the Poltava Military Communications Institute, causing several floors to collapse. It didn’t take long for the smell of smoke and news of the deadly strike to spread across the central-eastern city.

The attack appears to be one of the bloodiest carried out by Russian forces since the war began more than 900 days ago, when Russia carried out a full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.

“People were found under the rubble. Many were saved,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video posted on his Telegram channel. He ordered an investigation.

Inside the closed gates of the institution, which the media was not allowed to enter, there were broken bricks, and a few hours later, outside, small pools of blood could be seen. Field communications trucks were parked along the perimeter. The roads were covered with glass from broken apartment windows.

“I heard explosions… I was at home then. When I left the house, I realized that it was something bad and not good,” said Yevhen Zemskyy, who came to help as a volunteer. “I was worried about the children, the people of Poltava. That’s why we are here today, to help our city in any way we can.”

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the death toll as of Tuesday evening was 51.

“My deepest condolences to the families of those killed and wounded in the Russian missile attack on Poltava,” Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska wrote on social media on Tuesday. “This is a shocking tragedy for all of Ukraine.”

Filip Pronin, the governor of the region known as Poltava, announced on Telegram that 219 people were injured. Up to 18 people could be buried under the rubble, he said.

Ten residential 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 on Wednesday.

The White House condemned the deadly attack, saying it showed the urgent need to strengthen Kiev’s air defenses.

The attack was “another horrifying reminder of Putin’s brutality against the Ukrainian people,” White House communications and national security adviser John Kirby told reporters, adding that the United States would send more military aid to Kyiv in the coming weeks.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called it an “abhorrent act of aggression”, while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Putin’s brutality “knows no limits”.

The academy educates officers in communications and electronics, honing some of the most valued skills in a war where both sides fight for control of the electronic battlefield.

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

The Kremlin had no immediate comment on the strike. It was unclear whether those killed and wounded were limited to Ukrainian military personnel, such as signal cadets, or whether civilians were among them.

Since the full-scale invasion began in early 2022, the Russian military has repeatedly used missiles to destroy civilian targets, sometimes killing dozens in a single attack.

The deadliest attacks included an airstrike on a theater in Mariupol in 2022, which killed hundreds of civilians hiding in a basement, and an attack the same year on a train station in Kramatorsk, which killed 61 people. Residential buildings, markets and shopping centers were also attacked.

Poltava lies about 350 kilometres (200 miles) southeast of Kiev, on a major highway and rail route connecting Kiev with Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, near the border with Russia.

The attack came as Ukrainian forces sought to curtail their influence in the Kursk border region of Russia following a surprise invasion that began on August 6, with the Russian army pushing deeper into eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the rockets struck shortly after an air raid alert was announced, as many people were rushing to a bomb shelter, calling the attack “barbaric.”

According to the Ministry of National Defence, rescuers and doctors saved 25 people, including 11 who managed to get out from under the rubble.

The attack came on the day Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia, with no sign that his hosts would heed demands to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes.

Zelensky reiterated his call on Ukraine’s Western partners to ensure the rapid delivery of military aid. Earlier, he criticized the U.S. and European countries for being slow to deliver on their promises of aid.

He also wants them to ease restrictions on what Ukraine can attack on Russian territory with weapons they supply. Some countries fear that striking Russia could escalate the war.

“Ukraine needs air defense systems and missiles now, and not just in storage,” Zelensky wrote in English on Telegram.

“Far-reaching strikes that can protect us from Russian terror are needed now, not later. Every day of delay, unfortunately, means more lives lost,” he said.

Ukraine’s air force said Monday that Russia began shelling Kiev overnight with ballistic and cruise missiles and drones as children prepared to return to school. Multiple explosions rang out across the capital early Monday morning as Ukrainian air defenses shot down multiple weapons, causing damage and fires as debris fell on the capital.