CHERNIHIV, Ukraine – Rescuers were removing mountains of rubble on April 18 from the site of a lethal Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s historic city of Chernihiv, where at least 18 people were killed in an attack that has prompted fresh pleas for allies to boost Kyiv’s overstretched air defence systems.

Three Russian missiles crashed into the northern Ukrainian city on April 17, leaving pools of blood on the street at the scene of one strike, where rescue workers searched for survivors and carried away the wounded on stretchers.

The official death toll rose to 18 by the morning of April 18. Seventy-seven people – including four children – were injured, according to Ukraine’s emergency services department.

As President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for more help from Western allies, the US House of Representatives finally announced a vote on a massive military aid package that includes about US$61 billion (S$82 billion) in long-delayed support for Kyiv, a move welcomed by President Joe Biden.

Chernihiv resident Olga Samoilenko told AFP she and her children found shelter in the corridor of their apartment building after the first missile exploded.

“Our neighbours were already there. We started shouting for everyone to fall to the floor. They did. There were two more explosions. Then we ran to the parking lot,” the 33-year-old said.

Zelensky questions West’s resolve

Mayor Oleksandr Lomako said 16 buildings had been damaged in the attack, while other officials said dozens of vehicles were also destroyed.

There was one direct hit on an infrastructure facility, but it was not linked to energy production, the mayor said.

A 25-year-old policewoman on sick leave was among those killed after suffering a severe shrapnel injury, the interior minister said.

AFP journalists at the scene saw a body being pulled from the rubble and an eight-storey hotel building gutted by the strike, where municipal workers were using a crane to clear debris.

Nearby apartments, a beauty salon and 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 on its territory for around two years since Russian forces retreated.

Mr 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 defence 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 same cover from aerial attacks as Israel.

‘Reliable protection’

“In the Middle East, we saw what reliable protection of human lives from missiles looks like,” he said, referring to the interception of Iran’s drone and missile barrage on Israel on April 13.

Mr Kuleba thanked Germany for agreeing to supply Ukraine with another Patriot air defence system and said he would appeal to other countries at a Group of Seven meeting this week for more weapons.

A growing chorus in Ukraine has been appealing to allied countries for more sophisticated air defence 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.

Educational and medical facilities were among buildings damaged in the latest strike, the Interior Ministry said.

Chernihiv lies some 145km north of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and had a pre-war population of around 285,000 people. The city – home to some of Ukraine’s oldest churches – lies hundreds of kilometres from the front line but has occasionally been targeted in long-range Russian strikes.

In August 2023, 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 that year. AFP, REUTERS