Ukrainian soldier Mykyta Petrov describes Russian attack that killed 51 people

Ukrainian soldiers who witnessed a Russian missile attack on a military academy and hospital in Ukraine on Tuesday are being left shaken by the devastating attack that killed dozens of people.

The attack in central Poltava killed at least 51 people and injured more than 200, one of the deadliest attacks since Russia invaded Ukraine almost 30 months ago.

Rescuers and doctors saved at least 25 people, including 11 who were pulled from the rubble, officials said.

However, it is believed that several people are still trapped under the rubble of the building.

The 26-year-old cadet, who had started training at the Poltava Military Communications Institute two weeks earlier, told the BBC that what he saw was terrifying.

“Too much blood, too many corpses,” Mykyta Petrov told the station.

An air raid alarm in Poltava sounded just two minutes before the explosions, giving soldiers undergoing training and nearby residents little time to escape and hide in bomb shelters, Ukrainian officials and residents said.

The result was an unimaginable sight that shocked even those accustomed to seeing the effects of the ongoing war.

Rescue teams pulled dead victims from the partially destroyed military academy building, “who had no legs, some had no arms, and some even had no heads,” Denys Kliap told the New York Times.

Kliap, 26, is the director of Free and Unbreakable, a volunteer rapid response group in Ukraine. He has been involved in numerous Russian attacks.

But Tuesday’s deadly rocket attacks stood out from other events that have claimed many lives.

“When we arrived, all I remember was a pile of bodies scattered all over the institute grounds,” he told the newspaper.

“It was very scary,” he added. “We had never seen anything like this in Poltava before.”

Kliap said he believes, based on road incidents, that many of the victims were hit as they tried to reach the shelter.

This theory was confirmed by many reports from residents and officials.

Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko said the two minutes between the wailing of warning sirens and the explosion of missiles on the ground “is nothing.”

“Imagine being on the sixth floor of a building and having to run downstairs. Is it realistic that you can do that in two minutes?” he told the BBC. “Imagine living like that, multiple times a day. We can’t go on like this. It’s just not fair.”

A similar account was given by a 25-year-old soldier who was in one of the military academy buildings at the time of the attack.

“Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for all the people to run to the shelter,” a soldier surnamed Markiyan told the Times. “There wasn’t enough time between the airstrike warning and the first strike.”

Markiyan, who asked that his last name not be published, suffered minor shrapnel injuries to his hands and face and appeared to be in shock, the newspaper said.

“After the first hit, I was blown under the stairwell by the shock wave,” he said. “When I tried to get up and take cover, the second hit.”

He added that several of his friends were still trapped under the rubble.

A resident of the region, whose husband is fighting on the front line in Donbas, described the shocking reality in an interview with the BBC.

“Soldiers died here and I know there are still soldiers under the rubble. Their wives are waiting for them,” said Jana Kulishova, 30.

Ukrainian officials confirmed that soldiers were killed in the Russian attack and vowed to seek justice.

“Russian scum will definitely be held accountable for this attack,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.