The Attack on Chernihiv Reflects Ukraine’s Key Need—Air Defense

During a teleconference at the EU special summit, that is taking place in Brussels, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began his speech by sending condolences to the victims of Russia’s morning attack on the Ukrainian city Chernihiv, on April 17. The attack killed at least 17 people and injured over 60.

“My condolences to all those who lost their loved ones. And this is what is happening every day. It reflects our current key need—the need for air defense,” said Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy noted the differences in responses between the attacks on Ukraine and Israel, pointing out that countries’ joint efforts helped deter the attack on Israel.

“Our Ukrainian sky and the sky of our neighbors deserve the same security,” he said.

The President thanked everyone who is taking action to support Ukraine in its efforts to defend itself against Russian attacks, including Germany for sending an additional Patriot air defense system. “However, we have a bigger need,” said Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy stressed the difficult situation with energy infrastructure, with Russia destroying almost all of the thermal power generation facilities with other energy infrastructure facilities also being under constant attack. Additionally, the President reminded of Russia’s radiation blackmail in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

“This can only be stopped by air defense—by specific systems such as Patriot, IRIS-T, SAMP-T, NASAMS… Systems that you have. They are needed in Ukraine right now—needed to stop Putin from relying on terrorist methods. And this is your security need as well,” Zelenskyy added.