Aftermath of Saturday's attack on Chernihiv Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
At least seven people, including a six-year-old child, were killed when A Russian missile hit a theater hosting an event for drone developers in Chernihiv on Saturday.
Another 129 people were injured, including 15 children and 15 police officers, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said. in a Telegram message.
The region's governor, Vyacheslav Chaus, later reported on Telegram that 140 people sought medical attention, 41 were in hospital.
Ukrainian officials said that among them were people going to church to celebrate a religious holiday. dead.
“The victims were in cars, walked along pedestrian crossings, walked from all three churches,” said the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Igor Klymenko. «We must clearly document this war crime.»
The video shows debris strewn across the plaza in front of the centuries-old theater, where parked cars are badly damaged. There was a body in one car, and the other, a young man or boy, lay on the ground.
One photo showed a man sitting on the road next to a stretcher, with his wife's body covered by a foil blanket. Emergencies Ministry officials reported that at least 12 of the victims were children and 10 were policemen.
A man on a stretcher sits on the side of the road with a foil blanket over his wife's body. Photo: Shutterstock
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was on a visit to Sweden to organize the transfer of more weapons, condemned the attack.
“This is what we are united against by the whole world. The Russian missile hit right in the center of the city, in our Chernihiv,” he wrote on Telegram.
“Square, Polytechnic University, theater. An ordinary Saturday that Russia turned into a day of pain and loss.”
Chernigov, a city of green boulevards and ancient churches, is about 90 miles north of Kyiv, the capital. It is close to the border with Belarus and was on the front lines of the first wave of the invasion in February last year.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that the roof of the theater was destroyed during the strike.
Missile attack on Chernihiv
Users on Ukrainian social media said that the Russian military may have deliberately targeted a theater that was hosting a meeting of drone developers advertised on the Internet.
However, one of the organizers said that they only told the participants the exact time and place events the day before.
“The event was officially agreed with the local authorities in advance, the venue was provided by the local authorities,” Maria Berlinskaya wrote in her Facebook post. “All participants were checked by the police at the entrance, doctors were on duty.”
She said the event was suspended when the air raid siren sounded and people were told to run to the shelter, adding: “Unfortunately, some people did go outside. Condolences to the dead and wounded. Believe me, I would like to die instead of them.
Drones have become a vital and modern weapon for Ukraine since the Russian invasion last year. Ukrainian aerial drones now evade Russian air defenses and strike at Moscow, while naval drones target warships hundreds of miles away in the Black Sea.
The video shows the moment the rocket hit Chernihiv. It shows a young woman in a white dress posing for a photo against a blue sky. She then hears the roar of an approaching rocket, turns around and gasps as the theater behind her explodes.
Ukrainian commentators note that while U.S. and German Patriot anti-missile systems now protect Kiev from most Russian missile attacks, provincial cities are still very vulnerable.
Earlier on Saturday, a Ukrainian drone struck a military airfield in northern Russia . Novgorod region, where commentators say the Tupolev strategic bombers were located, which the Kremlin used to fire missiles at Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said no one was injured and the fire was quickly extinguished. The Novgorod region is located northwest of Moscow, hundreds of kilometers from the border between Russia and Ukraine.
“As a result of a terrorist attack on the territory of the airfield, a fire broke out in the parking lot of the aircraft, which was quickly extinguished by firefighters. One aircraft was damaged,” the ministry said in a statement.
In recent months, the number of drone strikes inside Russia has increased. One of them hit a building in central Moscow on Friday after Russian air defense systems shot it down, disrupting air traffic at all civilian airports in the Russian capital.
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