Seventeen killed in Ukraine's Chernihiv in Russia's deadliest air strike in weeks
Three
Russian missiles slammed into the city centre of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine
on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, wounding dozens more and damaging
civilian buildings, officials said.
President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Kyiv's allies to rush in air defence support
after the city, which had a pre-war population of 300,000, became the latest
target of an intensifying Russian air strike campaign.
"This
would not have happened if Ukraine had received sufficient air defence
equipment and if the world's determination to counter Russian terror had been
sufficient," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Videos
obtained by Reuters showed flames and columns of black smoke rising over
Chernihiv, which is about 150 km (95 miles) from the capital Kyiv and about 80
km (50 miles) from the Russian border.
Three
explosions ripped through a busy central area of the city just after 9 a.m.
local time (0600 GMT), destroying a hotel, officials said.
The
strike also damaged several multi-storey residential buildings, a hospital, an
education facility and dozens of private cars, officials said.
"Unfortunately,
Russia continues to engage in terrorist activity against civilians and civilian
infrastructure as confirmed by this strike on Chernihiv once again,"
acting mayor Oleksandr Lomako said on national television.
Sixty
people, including three children, were wounded, the emergency services said.
Russia,
which denies targeting civilians, attacked with three Iskander cruise missiles,
governor Vyacheslav Chaus told the Suspilne public broadcaster.
SHELTERING
IN BASEMENTS
"I
haven't come to my senses fully yet and I don't understand everything that
happened. The main thing for me is that my child in school was in a basement
(shelter)," local resident Iryna, 35, told Reuters.
"The
school is nearby and I was most worried for them to have enough time to go
down."
Schools
are equipped with shelters in basements for children and teachers to take cover
there.
As
civilians cleared up glass and debris with shovels near residential houses,
local doctors urged residents to donate blood and city officials declared a day
of mourning.
Ukraine
is facing an acute shortage of ammunition, including air defence systems and
missiles, with vital funding from the U.S. blocked by Republicans in Congress
for months and the EU failing to deliver munitions on time.
Russia
has taken advantage of these delays in recent weeks, intensifying its attacks
on Ukrainian cities and targeting the energy sector and other critical
infrastructure.
Ukraine's
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba voiced gratitude to Germany for providing an
additional, third Patriot air defence battery, urging the country's other
allies to follow suit.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and has launched thousands of missiles and drones against Ukrainian cities, towns and villages in attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians.
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