Russia again went hunting away from the front lines in the Ukraine. Seven people, including a 6-year-old boy, were killed and at least 110 injured when a Russian missile hit a central square in the historic northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. “Russia turned any given Saturday into a day of pain and loss,” President Volodimir Zelenski, who was on a working visit to Sweden, posted on Telegram: “This is what it means to be a neighbor of a terrorist state, we are against this uniting the whole world.”
People were on their way to the church to celebrate a religious holiday when the attack took place. According to the Ukrainian authorities, 12 of the injured are children and 10 are police officers. According to Chernihiv Oblast Governor Viacheslav Chaus, Russian troops probably used a ballistic missile to attack the city.
“It hit right in the center of the city, in our Chernihiv. A square, the polytechnic university, a theater,” denounced the Ukrainian leader.
The city is close to the Belarusian border, right on the route where the frustrated Russian advance towards Kiev began in February 2022. Chernihiv was designated a Hero City of Ukraine by the Ukrainian government during the Russian invasion along with other cities attacked by the Russians. like Mariupol, Kherson or Hostomel. The town is known for its centuries-old churches and is about 145 kilometers north of kyiv.
The roof of the neoclassical theater was torn off by the attack, which also blew out doors and windows in apartment buildings and shops in the area. The streets were stained with traces of blood.
The high number of victims has not surprised Chernihiv, as this religious event (the Feast of the Transfiguration, known in Ukraine as the Feast of the Apple of the Savior) leads families to organize outdoor meals.
Ukrainian media reported that at the time of the attack a public event was taking place inside the theater with manufacturers of drones, devices that have been of great importance in this war and have become almost the only way for Kiev to attack territory. Russian. The Kyiv Independent newspaper confirmed that an exhibition of drone producers was scheduled for August 19 in Chernihiv, but the location had been kept secret. Those registered were going to receive the address hours before the event.
The Russian version, offered by the RIA Novosti agency, is that the meeting place of specialists in military combat drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was attacked, which was taking place under the cover of a drone festival.
The attack is the latest in a long line that has made threatening civilians from the air routine. kyiv’s air force said on Saturday that the Ukrainian military had shot down 15 of 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Moscow in an overnight strike.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that it destroyed a Ukrainian drone in the Belgorod region and shot down another near Moscow. A third attacked a military airfield in the Novgorod region, damaging a fighter plane.
Zelenski has taken advantage of his trip to Sweden to discuss the possibility of receiving Swedish Gripen planes to reinforce its air defenses. The US has already given the green light for Denmark and the Netherlands to send F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
