February 2025 Poltava strike
On 1 February 2025, a Russian missile hit a high-rise residential apartment building in Poltava, Ukraine, killing 15 and injuring 17 more. The strike, believed to have been carried out by a Kh-22 supersonic cruise missile, caused additional buildings and some energy infrastructure to become damaged. The strike was described as a "terrorist crime" by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Attack
On 1 February 2025, at 7:44 am, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, a Russian missile exploded above an apartment building in Poltava which killed 15 civilians; including two children, while a further 17 were injured; including four children. Poltava was away from the battlefront during the strike. The missile, believed to be a Kh-22 supersonic cruise missile, struck the west wing entrance of the apartment building, suspending the fourth and fifth floor, collapsed. The explosion shattered 1,500 windows, affecting buildings up to away, a combined 308 households accommodating 528 residents. A fire started on the damaged floors shortly after the explosion. A kindergarten and parts of energy infrastructure in Poltava were also damaged.Human Rights Watch identified a military air base as the only military target in the area, yet it was about from the strike, and thus deemed the attack on the apartment building indiscriminate and disproportionate, a possible Russian war crime. Part of the struck five-story residential building collapsed, and rescue workers managed to rescue 22 people from the ruins. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack a "terrorist crime."