Heavy impacts

Russia kills dozens of Ukrainians in Poltava

A woman in Poltava cries during a funeral. (archive picture)

(Bild: AFP/Ihor Tkachov)

Russia's attacks on the Ukrainian civilian population have reached a new level. According to information from Kiev, more than 50 people were killed in a Russian air strike on the city of Poltava in the center of Ukraine. Several buildings were hit, including a hospital.

There were also more than 200 injured, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office. The missiles hit a military training center and a hospital.

Selenskyj calls for more weapons
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the missiles hit shortly after the air raid began, when many people were still on their way to the air raid shelters. Online services and local media called on the population to donate blood and help care for the injured. People had been buried under the rubble of buildings.

Poltava has so far been largely spared by the war:

"The window flew open. There was dust everywhere. I just had time to warn my sister about the rocket," said local resident Yevgeniya Chyrva. The spokesman for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, declared that the attack was "another terrible reminder of Putin's brutality against the Ukrainian people". 

Criticism of open-air military ceremony
In Ukraine, however, sharp criticism of the Ukrainian military leadership was also voiced after the attack. Russian military bloggers had reported that the attack was aimed at an open-air military ceremony. They therefore criticized why such gatherings take place despite the threat of Russian attacks. "How can it be that such a large number of people can come together in such a facility?" criticized the Ukrainian military blogger Sergei Naumovich.

President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the West: in order to stop "this terror", Kiev would need large numbers of air defense systems and missiles in Ukraine - over and above those in stock. The Ukrainian president announced that the "Russian scum" would pay for the violent attack.

"Long-range strikes that can protect us from Russian terror are needed now, not later. Every day of delay unfortunately means more lives lost," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Russia had recently intensified its airstrikes on Ukraine. In eastern Ukraine, Putin's troops are also advancing at a rapid pace. On its own soil, the Ukrainian army is having great difficulty repelling the Russian army. This year, Ukraine's territorial gains were greater than its territorial losses on only eight days - and even on these days, its territorial gains were minimal, according to ISW data.