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Poltava strike and the days before it
Summary
A look back at the Russian missile attack on Poltava and the events of the preceding days, from Kharkiv to Ulaanbaatar.
What did the first days of September 2024 reveal about the war's reach? On 3 September 2024, Russian missile strikes hit Poltava, Ukraine. As reported at the time, at least 55 people were killed and more than 328 were injured.
Background written later gives a fuller picture. Two missiles struck a branch of the Military Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technologies and a nearby hospital. The later toll stood at at least 59 dead, 16 missing and at least 328 injured. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a building in the military institute had been partially destroyed. The attack was described as the deadliest in Poltava Oblast during the war.
Kharkiv, two days earlier
The Poltava strike followed another attack. On 1 September 2024, Russian missiles hit a shopping mall and events complex in Kharkiv, injuring at least 47 people.
Ukrainian drones over Russia
On the same day, Ukraine launched more than a hundred drones against targets in Russia. They included the Konakovo Power Station in Konakovo, Tver Oblast, and the Moscow Refinery in Moscow.
A diplomatic dispute over Mongolia
On 2 September 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia. He was there to discuss a China–Russia gas pipeline meant to recoup Russian losses from Western sanctions. Ukraine and the European Union had urged Mongolia to arrest him under his International Criminal Court warrant.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said that Mongolia's refusal to arrest Putin during a state visit meant it shared responsibility for the war crimes committed by Russia. The ministry also vowed to work with allies to enforce punitive measures on Mongolia.
The sequence
Within three days, the reports covered a strike on a Kharkiv commercial site, a large Ukrainian drone launch against Russian energy and industrial targets, a diplomatic confrontation over Putin's travel, and the mass-casualty attack on Poltava.
