President Zelensky says 2 Russian missiles struck a military training institute and a hospital in the central Ukrainian city, the worst single attack on a city this year. Also on the programme: An attempt by inmates to break out of a high-security prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo has led to the deaths of 129 people; and the Prague street named after Sir Nicholas Winton, the British man who saved hundreds of Jewish children from the Holocaust. (Photo: An image of a damaged building in Poltava.)
Hello.
Welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service.
Coming to you live from London, I'm Paul Henley, and we start in Ukraine in the central city of Poltava, where more than 50 people, according to the authorities, were killed and more than 200 injured in russian missile strikes.
Emergency teams have been at the site of two ballistic strikes since the attacks happened earlier today.
President Zelenskyy gave more details.
I have received preliminary reports on the.
Russian strike on Poltava.
According to currently available information, two ballistic missiles hit the territory of an educational.
Institution and a nearby hospital.
One of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was partially destroyed.
People found themselves under the rubble.
Many were saved.
More than 180 people were injured.
Unfortunately, many died.
Oksana Butenko is an english teacher in the city of Poltava who tells me she's almost accustomed to living under daily threat of russian attack.
I asked her how she was first made aware of the missile attacks today.
So the first thing I knew was the sound of the missile attack.
And I saw on my gadget that there is a rocket heading towards Poltava.
So the first thing we've had these two explosions and then started numerous pieces of news about the amount of casualties.
So we were all waiting for the news from our officials.