INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Three Russian missiles crashed into Ukraine's historic city of Chernihiv on Wednesday, killing 17 people, as officials pleaded for more air
defense systems from allies.Pools of blood gathered on the street at the scene of one strike, where rescuers searched for survivors in the
rubble and carried away the wounded on stretchers, official images showed.Buildings and cars across the center of the northern city were
destroyed in the strike.President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has urged allies to send more missiles to thwart Russian aerial attacks, said
Ukraine lacked the weapons it needed to intercept the three missiles that struck Chernihiv.Resident Olga Samoilenko told AFP how she ducked
with her children into the corridor of their apartment building for protection when the first missile exploded."Our neighbors were already
We started shouting for everyone to fall to the floor
There were two more explosions
Then we ran to the parking lot," the 33-year-old said.The official death toll grew to 17 during the day, while emergency services said 60
West's resolveMayor Oleksandr Lomako said more than a dozen buildings had been damaged in the attack while other officials said dozens of
vehicles, and medical and educational facilities were also damaged.A 25-year-old policewoman on sick leave was among those killed after
suffering a severe shrapnel injury, the interior minister announced.AFP journalists at the scene saw a body being pulled from the rubble and
an eight-story hotel building gutted by the strike where municipal workers were using a crane to clear debris.Nearby apartments, a beauty
salon and a beer shop were among structures whose windows had been blown out by the attack.The Chernihiv region, which borders Belarus to
the north, was partially occupied at the beginning of the Russian invasion but has been spared fighting for around two years since Russian
forces retreated.Zelensky blamed Russia for the attack but also said the West should do more to help defend Ukraine's skies."This would not
have happened if Ukraine had received sufficient air defense equipment and if the world's determination to resist Russian terror had been
sufficient," he said.Echoing the comments, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba suggested in a social media post that Ukraine should enjoy the
missiles looks like," he added, referring to the interception of Iran's drone and missile barrage on Israel last Saturday.Kuleba thanked
Germany for agreeing to supply Ukraine with another Patriot air defense system and said he would appeal to other countries at a G7 meeting
this week for more weapons.A growing chorus in Ukraine has been appealing to allied countries for more sophisticated air defense weapons to
ward off Russian strikes on key infrastructure.Poor weather as well as Russian attacks on Ukrainian power plants have left thousands in the
war-scarred country with limited electricity supplies.Chernihiv lies some 145 kilometers north of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and had a pre-war
but has occasionally been targeted in long-range Russian strikes.In August last year, seven people were killed in a Russian missile attack
on a theatre hosting an exhibition on drones.The city was badly damaged when Russian tanks swept into Ukraine from Belarusian territory in
February 2022 and besieged the city until April of that year.
