Russian missiles kill 51 in deadliest strike on Ukraine this year

At least 51 people were killed and 235 wounded when Russia struck a military institute in Ukraine's central town of Poltava with two ballistic missiles on Tuesday, the war's deadliest single attack this year.

Photographs posted on social media showed several bodies of young men on the ground covered in dust and debris, with the badly damaged side of a large building behind them. Reuters could not immediately verify the images.

"The Russian scum will definitely be held accountable for this strike," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

He ordered a full and prompt investigation, saying the strike damaged a building of the Military Institute of Communications.