© Reuters. A view exhibits a web site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine August 19, 2023. Nationwide Police/Handout by way of REUTERS
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By Valentyn Ogirenko
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -Seven individuals together with a 6-year-old little one had been killed and 129 wounded when a Russian missile struck a central sq. within the historic northern Ukrainian metropolis of Chernihiv, the inside ministry mentioned on Saturday.
Folks had been on their solution to church to have fun a spiritual vacation when the strike passed off, the ministry mentioned. Of the 129 counted as wounded within the search and rescue operation, 15 had been kids and 15 had been cops, Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko mentioned in a Telegram submit.
“A Russian missile hit proper within the centre of the town, in our Chernihiv. A sq., the polytechnic college, a theatre,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was on a working go to to Sweden, posted on Telegram.
“An peculiar Saturday, which Russia changed into a day of ache and loss,” he added.
A brief video accompanying Zelenskiy’s submit confirmed particles scattered throughout a sq. in entrance of the regional drama theatre, the place parked vehicles had been closely broken. The video additionally briefly confirmed a physique slumped inside a automotive.
Ukrainian media reported {that a} public occasion that includes drone producers had been going down contained in the theatre on the time of the assault. Either side in Russia’s 18-month-old invasion have broadly used drones on the battlefield.
In feedback to reporters, Klymenko confirmed solely that an unspecified occasion had been going down within the constructing and that Ukraine’s home safety service was investigating the matter.
Chernihiv is a metropolis of leafy boulevards and centuries-old church buildings about 145 km (90 miles) north of the capital Kyiv.
The roof of the neoclassical theatre was torn off by the strike, which additionally blew out doorways and home windows in neighbouring condominium buildings and retailer fronts.
The streets had been stained with blood trails and strewn with scraps from first-aid provides that had been used to deal with the wounded.
Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities removed from the frontline with missiles and drones as a part of the full-scale invasion it launched in February final yr.
Kyiv’s air power mentioned early on Saturday the Ukrainian army had shot down 15 out of 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Moscow in an in a single day strike.
In the meantime, Russia’s Defence Ministry mentioned on Saturday it had destroyed a Ukrainian drone within the Belgorod area and jammed one other close to Moscow. A 3rd struck a army airfield within the Novgorod area, damaging a warplane, it additionally mentioned.
(Further reporting and writing by Dan Peleschuk in Kyiv and Elaine Monaghan in Washington; Enhancing by Toby Chopra, Frances Kerry and Alison Williams)
