OAN Staff Abril Elfi
6:00 PM – Tuesday, September 2, 2024
More than 50 people were killed and more than 200 others have been injured after a Russian missile hit a military training facility and nearby hospital in central Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed in a video post on Telegram that on Tuesday, two Russian missiles hit an “educational institution” and a nearby hospital in Poltava, Ukraine.
In his statement, Zelenskyy also claimed said that 51 people were killed and around 271 people were injured.
According to images circulating on social media that depicted the aftermath of the incident, there were bodies of at least five people in military uniforms lying in the rubble and one person lying in a pool of blood, as well as one whose hand appeared to be ripped off.
The statement went on to say that the facility had been targeted by two Iskander-M ballistic missiles.
“Rescuers, an investigative and operational group and other services are working on the site, and the clearing of the debris is ongoing,” it added.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also said in a statement on Tuesday that “Poltava is experiencing a terrible day today,” adding that “one of the city’s educational institutions” was hit.
“The time interval between the alarm and the arrival of the deadly missiles was so short that it caught people at the moment of evacuation to the bomb shelter,” it added.
Zelenskyy noted that some people had been trapped under the rubble, but many were rescued.
“I have ordered a full and prompt investigation into all the circumstances of what happened,” he said. “All necessary services are involved in the rescue operation.”
11 people were rescued from beneath the debris, according to a separate post by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, who also stated that rescuers had contained the fire.
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