A Russian missile attack on a military institute in central Ukraine killed at least 51 people and injured 271 in the deadliest single attack of the war so far this year, the Ukrainian government has said.
The attack, in the central Ukrainian town of Poltava, seriously damaged the Military Institute of Communications. At least 11 survivors have been pulled from the rubble so far but many remain trapped, the Red Cross has said.
"The Russians carried out this strike with two ballistic missiles," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address to the nation. "The air raid alert was sounded. Everything else – every detail – must be established and verified during the investigation."
Zelensky reiterated his call for his Western allies to allow the Ukrainian military to use donated long-range weapons to his launch sites and other targets deep inside Russia, a request that they have so far denied.
"We continue to work with all partners for stronger decisions in support of our defense – for long-range decisions that would be able to destroy a significant part of Russian ballistics even before launch," he said. "This is one of the key issues of this war in general."
