UKRAINE – A Russian strike against a military educational facility in central Ukraine killed 51 people and injured more than 200 others, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office, in one of the deadliest single attacks since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said preliminary information indicated two ballistic missiles hit the facility in the city of Poltava and a nearby hospital on Tuesday morning. “We say again and again to everyone in the world who has the power to stop this terror: air defense systems and missiles are needed in Ukraine, not somewhere in a warehouse,” Zelensky said in a statement.

The head of the Poltava region military administration, Filip Pronin, announced the latest death toll on Telegram, adding that that rescue crews continue to clear and search through the debris at the site. Pronin said authorities believe up to 18 more people may be under the rubble. At least 10 residential buildings were also damaged in Poltava, he said.

Moscow has not commented on the attack, but a well-known Russian military blogger Vladimir Rogov reported earlier on Tuesday that Russia struck a military school in Poltava. Speaking about the attack, President Zelensky repeated his call on Ukraine’s Western allies to supply Kyiv with more air defenses and lift restrictions on his country’s military using their weapons to strike inside Russia. “Long-range strikes that can protect against Russian terror are needed now, not later. Every day of delay is, unfortunately, the death of people,” he added. (CNN)…[+]