A Russian missile on Saturday killed at least seven people and injured 144 in downtown Cherniguiv, northern Ukraine, 100 kilometers from the border with Russia, an attack described as “heinous” by the ‘UN.
Shortly before this attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin had gathered in Rostov-on-the-Don, in southern Russia, not far from the border, his generals in charge of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
The Russian army also claimed to have “eliminated” 150 Ukrainian soldiers who were trying to cross the Dnieper River, a front line in southern Ukraine, where Kiev is trying to break through Russian defenses.
In Cherniguiv, at least seven people were killed and 144 others injured, including 15 children, in the Russian strike, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“A Russian missile hit right in the city center, in our Cherniguiv,” Mr. Zelensky lamented on Telegram. “An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss,” he continued, adding that the attack took place on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, an important Orthodox religious holiday.
“It is heinous to attack the main square of a big city in the morning when people are walking, some going to church,” the UN humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine said in a statement. Denise Brown. “It has to stop”.
“In international law, intentionally targeting civilian targets constitutes a war crime. This is a new illustration of Russia’s cowardice and cynicism,” reacted French diplomacy.
The bombardment took the population by surprise, in a city spared in recent months from large-scale attacks after being briefly surrounded by Russian forces at the start of the invasion in February 2022.
“I’m still a bit in shock because it hadn’t happened for a long time,” said Iryna, a 24-year-old waitress.
“We thought a balcony had collapsed,” she says. “But when we came out, our window was smashed, there was smoke, people running around crying or moaning.”
“We are at war, unfortunately, it’s not over,” laments Viktoria, manager of a coffee shop.
The corrugated sheets of the roof of the theater, through which the missile penetrated, are twisted and jagged and their debris litter the surrounding ground, according to an AFP team on the spot. Unesco denounced the fact that the historic center of the city, and in particular the theater, was targeted.
Against the wall of a nearby restaurant, a car thrown four meters by the blast of the explosion exposes its twisted engine in the front, with deflated bloody airbags in its two front seats. On the floor, pools of blood at the bottom of two doors.
All the panes of the windows of the theater exploded, like those of the shops near its entrance, at the corner of the square.
In the apartments as in the cafes and restaurants, everyone is busy cleaning.
The bombing came after a string of military successes claimed by Kiev this week and as the United States on Friday approved Denmark and the Netherlands to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine .
It coincided with a visit by Mr. Zelensky to Sweden, his ally who wants to join NATO.
Discussions with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson revolved around the preparation of the 13th Swedish military aid package, in particular concerning the joint production of Swedish CV90 light tanks, Zelensky detailed on Telegram.
“We will do everything possible to ensure the production in Ukraine of the first CV90s as soon as possible,” he added. “Everything we need right now, we have to locate and manufacture. And we will.”
He also pointed out that trials with Ukrainian pilots on Swedish Gripen planes had started. “We are close to having Gripens in our skies,” he said.
Cherniguiv was bombed shortly after the Kremlin announced on Saturday a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the generals in charge of the military operation in Ukraine in the Russian town of Rostov-on-Don, not far from the border Ukrainian.
Russian authorities have not specified its date, but footage released by state media suggests it was held overnight.
“The head of state listened to reports from Russian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, sector commanders and other officials,” according to a Kremlin statement.
Operational center of the Russian intervention in Ukraine, Rostov-on-the-Don had been the theater at the end of June of the spectacular mutiny of the mercenaries of Wagner who had briefly seized the headquarters of the army in the city.
General Gerasimov has rarely been seen in public since that failed rebellion. As for Mr. Putin, he rarely goes to the areas close to the fighting in Ukraine.
20/08/2023 01:18:24 – Chernigov (Ukraine) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
