Russian missiles slam into a Ukraine city and kill 17 people as the war approaches a critical stage

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Three Russian missiles slammed into a downtown area of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Wednesday, hitting an eight-floor apartment building and killing at least 17 people, authorities said.

At least 61 people, including three children, were wounded in the morning attack, Ukrainian emergency services said, as rescue workers searched through partially demolished buildings and tall mounds of rubble. Chernihiv lies about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of the capital, Kyiv, near the border with Russia and Belarus, and has a population of around 250,000 people.

The latest Russian bombardment came as the war has stretched into its third year and approaches what could be a critical juncture. A lack of further military support from Ukraine's Western partners increasingly leaves it at the mercy of the Kremlin's bigger forces.

Through the winter months, Russia made no dramatic advance along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, focusing instead on attritional warfare. However, Ukraine’s shortage of artillery ammunition, troops and armored vehicles has allowed the Russians to gradually push forward, military analysts say.

A crucial factor is the holdup in Washington of approval for an aid package that includes roughly $60 billion for Ukraine. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that he would try to move the package forward this week.

Ukraine’s need is acute, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

“The Russians are breaking out of positional warfare and beginning to restore maneuver to the battlefield because of the delays in the provision of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine,” the ISW said in an assessment late Tuesday, adding that “only the U.S. can provide rapidly and at scale.”

Ukraine got some good news Wednesday from Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who said his country has secured 500,000 artillery shells for Ukraine from countries outside the European Union. The first shells are due for delivery in June.

The 27-nation EU promised a year ago to send Ukraine 1 million artillery shells, but the bloc was unable to produce that many.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded with Western countries to provide more air defense equipment, including more surface-to-air Patriot guided missile systems. He said the Chernihiv strike "would not have happened if Ukraine had received enough air defense equipment and if the world’s determination to counter Russian terror was also sufficient.”

Zelenskyy told PBS in an interview broadcast earlier this week that Ukraine recently ran out of air defense missiles while it was defending against a major missile and drone attack that destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants, part of a recent Russian campaign targeting energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba repeated Zelenskyy’s appeal as he prepared to attend a Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in Italy.

“We need at least seven more Patriot batteries to protect our cities and economic centers from destruction,” Kuleba told German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview published Wednesday. “Why is it so difficult to find seven Patriot batteries?”

Ukrainian forces are digging in, building fortifications in anticipation of a major Russian offensive that Kyiv officials say could come as early as next month.

Ukraine is using long-range drone and missile strikes behind Russian lines which are designed to disrupt Moscow’s war machine.

Russia’s defense ministry said a Ukrainian drone was shot down over the Tatarstan region early Wednesday. That's the same area that was targeted in early April by Ukraine's deepest strike so far inside Russia, about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) east of Ukraine.

Ukrainian drone developers have been extending the weapons’ range.

Another Ukrainian drone was shot down over the Mordovia region, roughly 350 kilometers (220 miles) east of Moscow, the ministry said. That is 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

About an hour before the Mordovia attack, Russia’s civil aviation authority halted flights at airports in two of the country’s largest cities, Nizhny Novgorod and Tatarstan's Kazan, because of safety concerns.

Also, unconfirmed reports said a Ukrainian missile struck an airfield in occupied Crimea. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials confirmed the strike, but local authorities temporarily closed a road where the airfield is located. Russian news agency Tass quoted the local mayor as saying windows in a mosque and a private house in the region were shattered in a blast there.

Associated Press writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, foreground, visits an exhibition of the new scientific and technical developments in the logistics system of the Russian Armed Forces at the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center outside Moscow, Russia. Shoigu checked the implementation of instructions on the development of robotic systems, advanced weapons systems, as well as support for military personnel. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a damaged building is seen at the site of a Russian missile strike in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP Photo)

Photographs of Ukrainian soldiers killed during Russian Ukrainian war are displayed at the Saints Peter and Paul church in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, rescuers work at the site of a Russian missile strike in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP Photo)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, rescuers work at the site of a Russian missile strike in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP Photo)

A volunteer helps Olga, 79, walk down the stairs from her apartment which was heavily damaged by a Russian airstrike, during her evacuation in Lukiantsi, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Soldiers carry the coffins of two Ukrainian army sergeants Tomkevych Mykhailo and Kril Olexander during their funeral at the Saints Peter and Paul church in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, blood is seen next to a car damaged by Russian missile strike in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP Photo)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO countries haven’t delivered what they promised to Ukraine in time, the alliance’s chief said Monday, allowing Russia to press its advantage while Kyiv’s depleted forces wait for military supplies to arrive from the U.S. and Europe.

"Serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Outgunned, Ukraine’s troops have struggled to fend off Russian advances on the battlefield. They were recently compelled to make a tactical retreat from three villages in the east, where the Kremlin's forces have been making incremental gains, Ukraine's army chief said Sunday. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Monday its forces had also taken the village of Semenivka.

“The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the front line. Lack of air defense has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces,” Stoltenberg said.

Kyiv’s Western partners have repeatedly vowed to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes.” But vital U.S. military help was held up for six months by political differences in Washington, and Europe’s military hardware production has not kept up with demand. Ukraine’s own manufacturing of heavy weapons is only now starting to gain traction.

Now, Ukraine and its Western partners are racing to deploy critical new military aid that can help check the slow and costly but steady Russian advance across eastern areas, as well as thwart drone and missile attacks.

Zelenskyy said new Western supplies have started arriving, but slowly. "This process must be speeded up,” he said at the news conference with Stoltenberg.

Though the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line has shifted little since early in the war, the Kremlin’s forces in recent weeks have edged forward, especially in the Donetsk region, with sheer numbers and massive firepower used to bludgeon defensive positions.

Russia also continues to launch missiles, drones and bombs at cities across Ukraine. At least four people were killed and 27 injured in a Russian missile strike on residential buildings and “civil infrastructure” in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Monday, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging site.

A turreted Gothic-style building known locally as the “Harry Potter Castle,” was seen in flames after the strike.

Russia is a far bigger country than Ukraine, with greater resources. It has also received weapons support from Iran and North Korea, the U.S. government says.

Drawn-out Ukrainian efforts to mobilize more troops, and the belated building of battlefield fortifications, are other factors undermining Ukraine’s war effort, military analysts say.

Nick Reynolds, a research fellow for land warfare at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said the war “is still largely an artillery duel.”

He said he did not expect to see major movement of the front lines in the near term, but that “the conditions are being set for which side has military advantage at the front line. The Russian military is in a better position at the moment.

“When we see one side or the other being in a position to move the front line, at some stage, maneuver will be restored to the battlefield. Not in the next few weeks, maybe not even in the next few months. But it will happen,” he told The Associated Press.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh, at a briefing with reporters Monday, also acknowledged Russia’s recent battlefield gains, noting that a delay in congressional approval for additional spending “set the Ukrainians back.”

NATO chief Stoltenberg, however, said more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine are on the way, including Patriot missile systems to defend against heavy Russian barrages that smash into the power grid and urban areas.

Ukrainian officials say Russia is assembling forces for a major summer offensive, even if its troops are making only incremental gains at the moment.

“Russian forces remain unlikely to achieve a deeper operationally significant penetration in the area in the near term,” the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment Sunday.

Even so, the Kremlin’s forces are closing in on the strategically important hilltop town of Chasiv Yar, whose capture would be an important step forward into the Donetsk region.

Donetsk and Luhansk form much of the industrial Donbas region, which has been gripped by separatist fighting since 2014, and which Putin has set as a primary objective of the Russian invasion. Russia illegally annexed areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions in September 2022.

In other developments, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh made an unannounced visit to Ukraine – the first British royal to travel to the country since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Buckingham Palace said Monday that Sophie, wife of Prince Edward, met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska in Kyiv and delivered a message on behalf of King Charles III. It did not disclose the timing or details of the visit.

The palace said Sophie, 59, made the trip “to demonstrate solidarity with the women, men and children impacted by the war and in a continuation of her work to champion survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.”

Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington contributed reporting.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, visits a photo exhibition dedicated to the sacrifices of the Russian occupation of the town in Saint Andrew's Church in Bucha, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, visits the Romanivska Bridge in the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, visits the Family center of the NGO "Save Ukraine" in the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, visits Saint Andrew's Church in the town of Bucha, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, meets with children as she visits the Family center of the NGO "Save Ukraine" in the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, meets with children as she visits the Family center of the NGO "Save Ukraine" in the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Martin Harris, right, visit the memorial to the victims of the Russian occupation in the town of Bucha, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, visits the memorial to the victims of the Russian occupation in the town of Bucha, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

In this photo provided by the Odesa Regional Administration, city officials examine a fragment of a missile after the Russian missile attack that killed several people, and wounded multiple others in Odessa, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Odesa Regional Administration via AP)

A building of the Odessa Law Academy is on fire after a Russian missile attack in Odessa, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Victor Sajenko)

Britain's Duchess of Edinburgh Sophie, right, with the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska visit the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Monday April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Duchess of Edinburgh Sophie, center, visits the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Monday April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Duchess of Edinburgh Sophie, second right, the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, right, and Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine, Martin Harris visit the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Monday April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, second right, and Martin Harris, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine, right, visit the UNFPA office in Kyiv to meet with war victims, Monday April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Britain's Duchess of Edinburgh Sophie, left, with the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska visit the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Monday April 29, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, welcomes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, welcomes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center right, talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, centre left, during their meeting in Kyiv Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, welcomes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Two women walk along a street in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A woman sells toys in front of a building with windows protected by sandbags in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talks during his joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, welcomes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during their meeting in Kyiv Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talks during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, welcomes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg walk before their press conference in Kyiv Ukraine, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)