Wednesday Briefing: Russian Strike Kills 50 in Ukraine

Two high-speed Russian missiles struck Poltava, a city in eastern Ukraine, killing more than 50 people and wounding scores more. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the war and followed a string of Russian assaults across Ukraine that started last week.

“It comes amid a moment when the war is more dynamic on the front — with Ukraine pushing into Russia and Russia pressing deeper into eastern Ukraine — and as the pace of Russian bombardments on towns and cities intensifies,” my colleague Marc Santora, who has been reporting from Ukraine since the start of the war, told me today.

Witnesses said the strikes, which hit the Poltava Institute of Military Communications, exploded shortly after warning sirens sounded, and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said many were killed on their way to shelter.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, took to social media to issue a fresh plea for aid. Zelensky has said that he needs at least seven Patriot missile-defense batteries. Germany has sent three; the U.S. announced the deployment of one in July, and Romania has pledged one.

Mongolia: The country, which is highly dependent on Russia for its energy needs, gave President Vladimir Putin a red-carpet welcome yesterday. It was his first visit to a member nation of the International Criminal Court since it issued a warrant for his arrest last year.