At least seven civilians have been killed by a Russian missile strike on a northern Ukrainian city square.
Key points:
- At least 110 were injured in the strike, including several children
- Civilians were celebrating a religious holiday when the attack occurred
- A polytechnic university and theatre were damaged
Among the dead was a six-year-old child, the Ukrainian interior ministry said on Saturday.
At least 110 people were injured when the missile struck the central square of Chernihiv.
People had been on their way to church to celebrate a religious holiday when the strike took place.
“As of 3:25 pm, 117 people were injured in the terrorist attack on the centre of Chernihiv, seven of them died,” Chernihiv’s acting mayor Oleksandr Lomako, said on Telegram.
12 of the injured were children and 10 were police officers, the interior ministry added.
“A Russian missile hit right in the centre of the city, in our Chernihiv. A square, the polytechnic university, a theatre,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on Telegram.
“An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss.”
Mr Zelenskyy posted vision of debris scattered along the square and heavily damaged cars.
The interior ministry said the roof of the drama theatre had been destroyed in the strike.
Russian forces marched through Chernihiv when they invaded Ukraine in February last year.
They were then pushed back by Ukrainian forces.
Chernihiv is known for its leafy boulevards and centuries-old churches, about 145km north of the capital Kyiv.
Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the front line with missiles and drones as part of the invasion it launched in February last year.
Kyiv’s air force said early on Saturday the Ukrainian military had shot down 15 out of 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Moscow in an overnight strike.
Drone attacks damage Russian warplane
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry has reported several Ukrainian drone attacks on Saturday, targeting Moscow, Novgorod and Belgorod.
A warplane was damaged in a fire at a Novgorod military airfield caused by the strikes, the ministry added.
No one was hurt in the attacks.
“As a result of the terrorist attack on the territory of the airfield, a fire broke out in the parking lot of aircraft, which was quickly eliminated by fire fighters. One aircraft was damaged,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
The Novgorod region lies hundreds of kilometres from Russia’s border with Ukraine.
The ministry later reported forces had jammed a drone on the north-western outskirts of Moscow, forcing it to crash.
Drones strikes deep inside Russia have increased in recent months.
Russian forces also shot down a Ukraine-launched missile over the Crimean peninsula on Friday night, the defence ministry said.
Reuters/AFP