Russian Iskander missiles strike military training center in Poltava

Russia struck the training center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in Poltava. Reportedly, Iskander missiles struck the center at the moment of morning lineup. Dozens military men were killed.

Photo: минобороны.рф by Алексей Иванов, CC BY 4.0

The strike was carried out on the morning of Tuesday, September 3. According to the Military Chronicle Telegram channel, the missiles hit the 179th training center for the communications troops (military unit A3990).

"Judging by indirect information, the Iskander hit the target just as the personnel were being lined up," the channel said.

The training of Ukrainian electronic warfare and communications specialists is carried out with the participation of foreign instructors, including active servicemen.

Vladimir Rogov, Chairman of the commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on sovereignty issues, clarified that the target was known as the former Poltava Higher Military Command School of Communications named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Moskalenko. The school specialized in training personnel for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in radar and electronic warfare.

According to him, there were more than 500 soldiers on the parade ground at the time when the missile struck the building, Rogov said adding that hundreds could be killed.

In addition, the Russian forces struck the area of ​​the military airfield in Poltava. The location was cordoned off, ambulances were sent there, coordinator of the Mykolaiv underground Sergei Lebedev said.

Ukraine's Public TV channel confirmed that there were two explosions in the city in the morning.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed losses as a result of the strike on the military training center in Poltava. During a video address, the politician said that one of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was also hit in the missile strike.

"Just got preliminary reports on the Russian strike on Poltava. According to the currently available information, there were two ballistic missiles," Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader said that 41 soldiers were killed in the strike, another 180 fighters were injured. Ukrainian President's wife Olena Zelenska later said that 47 were killed and 206 were wounded in the missile strike on Poltava.

Details

The 9K720 Iskander is a Russian mobile short-range ballistic missile system. It has a range of 500 kilometres (270 nmi; 310 mi). It was intended to replace the OTR-21 Tochka in the Russian military by 2020. The Iskander has several different conventional warheads, including a cluster munitions warhead, a fuel–air explosive enhanced-blast warhead, a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, an earth penetrator for bunker busting and an electromagnetic pulse device for anti-radar missions. The missile can also carry nuclear warheads. In September 2017, the KB Mashinostroyeniya (KBM) general designer Valery M. Kashin said that there were at least seven types of missiles (and "perhaps more") for Iskander, including one cruise missile.

dir="ltr" lang="ab">Poltava is a city located on the Vorskla River in Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Poltava urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Poltava has a population of 279,593 (2022 estimate).