AT LEAST 41 people were killed and 200 wounded after two Russian missiles blasted a military training facility and a nearby hospital in Ukraine today, Ukrainian officials said.

The strike, which hit the city of Poltava, was one of the deadliest Russian attacks since the war began in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that people were pulled out from under the rubble in a video online, and ordered a “full and prompt investigation.”

He took the opportunity to once against call for Western allies to deliver military aid, which he has repeatedly said is arriving too slowly.

Mr Zelensky also called on the nations to ease restrictions on what Ukraine can target on Russian soil with the weapons they provide.

“Ukraine needs air defence systems and missiles now, not sitting in storage,” he wrote in English on Telegram.

The attack happened as Ukrainian forces sought to carve out their holdings in Russia’s Kursk border region after a surprise incursion that began August 6 and as the Russian army advances deeper into eastern Ukraine.

The missiles hit shortly after an air-raid alert sounded when many people were on their way to a bomb shelter, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said, describing the strike as “barbaric.”

It came as Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia – despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court, of which Mongolia is a member nation.

Also today, United States researchers said they had identified the probable deployment site of Russia’s new nuclear weapons site, touted by Mr Putin as “invincible.”