CHERNIGIV: A Russian strike on the historic city of Chernigiv in northern Ukraine killed seventeen people and injured dozens more on Wednesday, as Ukraine pleaded for allies to bolster its over-stretched air defence systems.
First responders searched for survivors in the rubble and carried away the injured on stretchers as pools of blood formed on the ground near the scene of the strike, official images showed.
Ukraine for More Weapons
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has urged allies to provide more missiles to thwart Russian air attacks, said Kyiv lacked the weapons needed to intercept the three cruise missiles that struck Chernigiv, AFP reported.
The city mayor Oleksandr Lomako provided the latest death toll in a social media post and said sixty-one people had been wounded, a figure that officials earlier said included several minors.
Lomako said that the search and rescue operation is underway, adding that sixteen buildings had been damaged in the attack. Other authorities said dozens of vehicles were also destroyed.
A 25-year-old policewoman on sick leave was among those killed after suffering a severe shrapnel injury in the attack, the interior minister said.
The Chernigiv region was partially occupied at the start of the invasion but has been spared fighting on its territory for nearly two years since Russian forces retreated.
