Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russian editor at BBC Monitoring

The number killed in Poltava has risen to 49, with 219 injured, the Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Dmytro Lazutkin says in a TV interview.

We've been hearing from some of Poltava's residents about the moment the city was attacked.

"The air raid alert started in just a minute, and then there were two explosions," Olena Serdyuk says.

"At home, we immediately ran into the bathroom with the child, but then gathered ourselves."

She says there isn't a bomb shelter "in our radius", adding that it "takes a long time to run somewhere".

Anastasiia Artyukh says she heard "two very strong explosions" and it was "really scary".

"There is a house nearby, everything was blown out, all the windows. We don't have a basement in our house. So our only option was to sit [and wait]."

Image source, Faceboook/ Poltava Military Institute of Communications

As our colleague Abdujalil Abdurasulov just reported, the military Institute of Communications in Poltava was damaged in the attack.

Earlier, the institute posted the above image of a candle on its official Facebook account.

Abdujalil Abdurasulov
Reporting from eastern Ukraine

President Zelensky says the Institute of Communications was partly destroyed in the attack on Poltava. This is a military institute, so it’s likely that among the killed and injured are cadets and soldiers.

Russian military bloggers say cadets were gathered at a parade ground when the attack happened. There is no evidence confirming these claims.

For many Ukrainians, such reports only bring back a painful memory of the Zarichne incident in Zaporizhzhia region when Russian ballistic missiles killed 19 soldiers during an awards ceremony in November 2023.

This attack on the military institute in Poltava illustrates the challenges the Ukrainian Armed Forces face to train its personnel. Most training is for a group of people, often a large one.

Even though such facilities must have bomb shelters, the strike on Poltava shows that soldiers may not have enough time to get there.

Given the shortages of air defence systems in Ukraine, military educational facilities cannot be completely safe.

In the past Russia launched strikes on the training ground in Yavoriv in western Ukraine and attacked military barracks in Mykolaiv in the south.

Image source, EPA

While Russian missiles were landing in Ukraine, Russia's President Vladimir Putin was on a state visit to Mongolia.

The trip is being held to mark the 85th anniversary of the victory by Mongolian and Soviet forces over Japan.

Putin praised Mongolia's "respectful attitude" and told Mongolia's President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh the two nations had "close positions" on "many current international issues".

The Russian leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. Mongolia is a member of the ICC, external, but did not execute the arrest warrant.

Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a post on X , externalthe Mongolian government's "failure" to do so would "have consequences" for the country.

"Mongolia allowed the indicted criminal to escape justice, thereby sharing responsibility for his war crimes," he said.

Ukraine's President Zelensky has asked Western partners for more air defence systems, and missiles to strike deep into Russian territory, to prevent missile attacks like the one on Poltava.

In a video on the presidential website, he says "Russian scumbags" will be brought to account for the strike.

"We are telling everyone in the world who has strength, again and again, that in order to stop this terror, air defence systems and missiles for them are needed in Ukraine, not at a warehouse somewhere.

"Long-range strikes, which can protect from Russian terror, are needed now, not some time later. Every day of procrastination, unfortunately, means deaths of our people."

Nick Beake
Reporting from Kyiv

Image source, Reuters

The attack on Poltava comes on the day the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, is in Ukraine.

Earlier, he spoke to me in Kyiv and gave his starkest warning yet of a potential nuclear accident in the Ukraine war.

Grossi said the expansion of fighting to around two nuclear power plants had taken the conflict into a "very concerning stage".

Last week, he visited Russia to see the Kursk plant that Moscow claims the Ukrainians hit in a drone attack – something Kyiv has denied.

Now, Grossi is in Ukraine to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the south-east of the country.

It is the largest of its kind in Europe but has been in Russian hands for the past two years, with both sides accusing the other of attacking it.

Grossi said the situation there was "serious and fragile", with an increasing number of "close calls".

In the past month Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia itself, and Russia launched its biggest missile and drone attack into Ukraine.

Rafael Grossi said he continues to warn both Presidents Zelensky and Putin of the dangers of a nuclear accident - and that neither leader could say they hadn’t been told of the consequences.

Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska says the number killed in Poltava has risen to 47, with 206 known to have been wounded.

She describes the attack as a "tragedy" and says Russia is "always taking away the most valuable thing from us - life".

As we've been reporting, President Zelensky says 41 people were killed in Poltava with at least 180 wounded.

We're unable to bring you pictures from the scene of the missile strike, but here is a clip of emergency services working in the Ukrainian city.

Three days of mourning have been declared in Poltava, regional leader Philip Pronin says.

From tomorrow, the region will collectively mourn all 41 people killed. As well as confirming the death toll, Pronin says more than 180 people were injured.

"Bright memory to all the dead," he adds on Telegram.

The attack, which has killed at least 41 people, hit the city of Poltava, which lies some 130km (81 miles) south-west from Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv.

As we've been reporting, it is not a frontline town, but is within range of long-range missiles.

Chris Partridge
BBC News weapons analyst

The likely missile used in this attack is the Iskander-M – a ballistic weapon with a claimed range of up to 500km.

The missile carries either a cluster or high explosive warhead of up to 700kg, has a reported accuracy of between 10 metres and 30 metres and is capable of considerable destruction.

Overnight the Ukrainian military reported launches of Iskanders from Crimea, which at roughly 430km is within range of the system.

Surface-to-surface Iskanders have been used extensively in this conflict in addition to air and sea launched cruise missiles, plus attack drones - most notably the Iranian-designed Shahed 131 and 136 weapons.

The unpredictable means of attack by Russia keeps pressure up on Ukrainian defences. Kyiv uses a combination of aircraft, surface-to-air missiles and artillery to try to counter aerial attacks, especially from cruise missiles and drones.

But ballistic missiles such as the Iskander are much harder to counter because of their speed and parabolic trajectory to target, making any intercept hugely challenging.

Image source, Getty Images

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

It is already clear this is a very dark day for Ukraine.

The number of dead and wounded is extremely high. The target was Poltava, the main city in a region of east-central Ukraine far away from the front line.

The defence ministry is talking of two ballistic missiles, so Russia's military knew exactly what they were aiming for.

Poltava is about 140km (87 miles) from the Russian border and although the city and wider region have come under regular missile attack, they have not seen the kind of bombardment of regions closer to the eastern front.

The city, with a population of more than 300,000, has become home to refugees from Russia's onslaught in the east.

Earlier in the summer, Russia targeted an airfield in Poltava region, claiming to have destroyed Ukrainian warplanes. But today's attack hit the city itself, partially destroying a building, burying people in the rubble.

There appears to have been very little warning of imminent attack, so those inside had no time to seek shelter.

Image source, Get

A crushing blow to Ukrainepublished at 13:19 British Summer Time 3 September

13:19 BST 3 September

Nick Beake
Reporting from Kyiv

This is a crushing blow to the Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian people.

It comes a month to the day since Kyiv‘s troops entered Russia’s Kursk region - the first incursion of its kind into Russia since World War Two.

While largely ignoring - publicly at least - the newly inflicted wound in his country’s side, President Putin curtly vowed there would be punishment.

Last week came the biggest missile and drone strike on Ukraine since the full scale Russian invasion.

Today, there is this devastating attack on a training institution - hitting the college itself and a hospital unit, according to President Zelensky.

Initial reports suggested the recruits were hit on the parade ground and in a canteen.

Images from the location show huge damage consistent with the impact of ballistic missiles.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russian editor at BBC Monitoring

As we reported, the Ukrainian president says the strikes hit an educational facility and a hospital - but reports circulating online suggest one of buildings may have been a military training centre.

The defence ministry in Kyiv says everyone should stay calm and only trust official information.

This is important, because there is also speculation online that at the moment of the strike, there was a parade taking place.

Poltava is a city in central-eastern Ukraine that is not exactly frontline. It has so far not been as affected by Russian attacks in the same way as Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, or Sumy.

Clearly that has changed today in a very tragic way.

The city has been relatively calm until now, but it has important military facilities, including training centres. There are reports that Russia had used reconnaissance drones before this missile strike happened.

We can now bring you a statement from Poltava's regional leader, Philip Pronin, who offers condolences "to all families who lost their loved ones today".

In a statement on Telegram, Pronin says Tuesday has been "a terrible day for Poltava".

Pronin also urges Ukrainians to donate blood where possible.

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

Russian pro-war Telegram channels are reporting that the strike hit a training centre for the military and that the victims were cadets.

The normally well-informed Rybar channel says that "as a result of the attack, valuable communications and electronic warfare specialists were eliminated".

It says these specialists are difficult to replace quickly as they require lengthy training.

Many channels also say the strike was carried out with short-range ballistic Iskander missiles.

Neither of these claims have been verified by the BBC.

We're also hearing from Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, which says the city of Poltava is experiencing a "terrible day" after a "barbaric attack" from Russia.

The ministry says the city was apparently struck by two ballistic missiles. There was so little time between the air raid siren and the missiles' arrival that people were hurt on their way to bomb shelters.

Rescue teams have managed to save 25 people - 11 of whom were trapped under rubble - and are continuing to search for survivors.

More now from Ukraine's President Zelensky, who says the preliminary report suggests the eastern city was hit by two Russian ballistic missiles.

He says that at least 41 people have been killed and 180 injured, with some dragged out from under the rubble and saved.

He says the missiles hit the "territory of an educational institution and a nearby hospital".

One of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was partially destroyed, he says.

Welcome to our live coverage, as we're just hearing from Ukraine's President Zelensky that a Russian strike has killed more than 40 people, and injured 180 others, in the Ukrainian city of Poltava.