At least 14 killed, 60 injured in Russian missile strikes on Chernihiv, northern Ukraine
April 17 (UPI) -- Russian missile strikes targeting the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv early Wednesday killed at least 14 people and injured more than 60 including two children, authorities said.
A 25-year-old off-duty female police officer was among those killed in the attack targeting civilian and social infrastructure in downtown districts of the city, 95 miles northeast of the capital, Kyiv, reported Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko saying that three people remained missing and warning that the death toll could rise in the unfolding rescue effort.
National Police of Ukraine named her in a social media post as Inspector Alina Mykolaets who had been in the service since June. She died from a shrapnel wound sustained at home where she was recuperating from an illness, according to the force.
Appealing for people to donate blood, Chernihiv Regional Military Administration head Vyacheslav Chaus said a command center had been set up and rescuers and medics were working all out to deal with the aftermath of what he said were "three enemy missile strikes almost in the center of the city."
"There are dead civilians, there are many wounded. Rescuers and medics are working now. All necessary assistance is being provided," he wrote on social media.
The president's office said the attack razed an eight-story building and damaged four other high-rise buildings, a hospital, a higher education institution and dozens of cars.
Offering his condolences to the victims' families, President Volodymyr Zelensky used the incident to double down on his plea for "sufficient" military aid and support from the United States and Europe.
"This would not have happened if Ukraine had received a sufficient number of air defense systems and if the world's determination to counter Russian terror had been sufficient," he said in a post on X.
"Terrorists can only destroy lives if they first intimidate those who can stop terror and save lives. Determination matters. Support matters. The Ukrainian determination is sufficient. There must be equally sufficient determination from our partners and, as a result, sufficient support."
Zelensky's comments came amid signs of movement on a $60 billion foreign aid supplemental funding package that has been stalled in Congress for four months with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., saying Monday that representatives would vote this week on two separate aid packages for Israel and Ukraine, in response to "precipitating events around the globe."
However, Johnson's maneuver provided fresh impetus to an internal party mutiny against him with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on Tuesday publicly signing up to an effort by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., to force a vote on his speakership.
