Vladimir Saldo, the governor of Kherson Oblast, which will be annexed to the Russian Federation by referendum in 2022, has said that the military school shot down in Poltava yesterday housed a training centre where NATO instructors were teaching.
Speaking to RIA Novosti at the Eastern Economic Forum, Saldo said: “Now they are under the guidance of NATO countries and they encourage sending mercenaries there. Training centres are needed to develop the region. There are still NATO instructors training Ukrainians who are caught on the streets and sent to training centres”.
Saldo said the centre had been destroyed in the attack.
According to the TASS news agency, the Russian military used two Iskander-M cruise missiles in the attack.
The Russian defence ministry has not officially commented on reports of the attack.
The death toll exceeds 50
On the other hand, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office announced that 51 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the rocket attack.
Zelensky made a statement on his Telegram channel yesterday: “The attack took place in the area where the educational institution and a neighbouring hospital are located. One of the buildings of the Institute of Communication was partially destroyed. People were trapped under the rubble. Many of them have been rescued,” he said.
The Ukrainian defence ministry said two ballistic missiles were used in the attack. The time interval between the alarm and the arrival of the missiles was so short that it caught people at the moment of evacuation to the shelter,’ the ministry said.
Last week, Russia launched three major rocket attacks on Ukraine. The attacks took place on 26, 27 and 29 August.
The shelling on 26 August was the largest of the war: 236 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were fired at the country’s territory, according to the Ukrainian air force.
