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Russia attacks Ukrainian clinic; U.S. vows more aid

STORY: A Russian missile attack on a clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday killed two people and wounded 30.

Video footage showed a devastated building with black smoke pouring out of it and rescue workers looking on. What appeared to be a body lay covered on the road nearby.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack as a crime against humanity.

Moscow has dismissed allegations that its soldiers have committed war crimes and denies deliberately targeting civilians although it has bombarded cities across Ukraine since invading 15 months ago.

After Ukrainian forces pushed back Russia's initial onslaught the battle lines have shifted little since last fall. A highly-anticipated Ukrainian spring offence has yet to materialize, despite an influx of NATO-supplied weaponry.

At a meeting of European allies on Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Russia must be defeated.

"And it is absolutely clear that it could be not a frozen conflict. So if Russia is just thinking that it could succeed with its robbery of land of Ukraine, it will not succeed with this idea and attempt. And this is because and this is why we are supporting Ukraine as long as it is necessary. Russia must withdraw troops, and this is the basis for peace."

In Kyiv, U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham sat down with the Ukrainian leader on Friday and pledged American support for his country.

"There can be no forgiving and forgetting when it comes to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's war crimes. There can be no backing off of helping Ukraine. Because if we fail here, there goes Taiwan."

He later told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not be forgiven what he called "industrial-level war crimes" against the Ukrainian people, and said if Washington were to cut off aid to Kyiv, China would see it as a license to seize Taiwan.

"The best way to protect Taiwan and world order is for Putin to lose. And if you don't get that, I think you're missing a lot."

And Kyiv raised a new alarm on Friday: that Russia was planning to trigger a radiation leak at a nuclear station controlled by Moscow's forces.

The Ukrainian defence ministry's intelligence directorate said Russia would soon shell the Zaporizhzhia power plant. The directorate statement, posted on Telegram, did not provide any proof.