Ukraine Says Dozens Killed, Hundreds Injured in Russian Missile Attack on Poltava

Medical workers wait outside of a military educational facility after it was hit by Russian missiles in Poltava, eastern Ukraine, on Sept. 3, 2024 Patryk Jaraccz/AFP via Getty Images

The number of dead and wounded continues to rise following a Russian missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, as local authorities continue to search the rubble.

At least 180 people were wounded and another 41 were killed after a pair of Russian ballistic missiles struck Poltava on Sept. 3, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a taped address posted on X.

Zelenskyy’s wife, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, raised the casualty assessment to 206 wounded and 47 killed in her own press statement just two hours later. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has since reported that the death toll had risen to 51.

The Epoch Times cannot independently confirm the casualty assessments at this time.

Zelenskyy said the pair of Russian ballistic missiles targeted an educational institution and damaged a nearby hospital and the office space for a telecommunications institute.

The Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment on the reported Poltava strikes by publication time.

Russia “will surely pay for this strike,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian leader urged his Western backers to arm his forces with additional air defense systems to blunt continuing Russian missile and drone barrages.

“Ukraine needs air defense systems and missiles now, not sitting in storage. Long-range strikes that can protect us from Russian terror are needed now, not later. Every day of delay, unfortunately, means more lost lives,” Zelenskyy said.

During a Tuesday press call, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby condemned the strikes as “another horrific reminder of the extent of [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] brutality toward the people of Ukraine.”

Kirby also offered assurances that the United States would continue to flow military assistance to Ukraine, including air-defense systems and counter-drone technologies.

On Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said its air defense units shot down a Ukrainian Mig-29 fighter jet, three HIMARS rockets, and dozens of drones, including at least one approaching its Kursk border region.

The Russian military also said it repelled multiple Ukrainian ground assaults aimed at expanding the ongoing Ukrainian incursion inside Russia’s western border region.