UPDATE - Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Poltava rises to 53

ADDS STATEMENT BY RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The death toll from Tuesday's Russian missile attack on the city of Poltava in central Ukraine rose to 53, the country’s emergency service said on Wednesday.

“53 people died as a result of an enemy attack on an educational institution in Poltava. 271 people were injured, 25 people were rescued, 11 of them were freed from the rubble,” Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) said on Telegram.

The statement said that up to five people may still be under the rubble.

The DSNS later said that the number of injured rose to 298.

Late Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an evening address that 51 people were killed due to the attack.

Zelenskyy initially said on Telegram that 41 people were killed and over 180 were injured in the attack, citing preliminary reports.

Zelenskyy said two ballistic missiles hit a building of the Military Institute of Communications and a nearby hospital.

On Tuesday, Poltava Governor Filip Pronin said on Telegram that the region will observe three days of mourning.

Later on Wednesday, a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry said that the country's armed forces launched a strike "on the 179th Joint Training Center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city of Poltava."

It claimed that the center was being used to train "specialists in communications and electronic warfare from all formations and military units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces."