Russian missile attacked a major square in the ancient northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Saturday, killing seven people, including a 6-year-old girl, injuring at least 129 others, and putting 41 of them in hospitals, according to Ukrainian officials
“In our Chernihiv, a Russian missile struck directly in the middle of the city. “A square, the polytechnic university, and a theatre,” wrote President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the messaging service Telegram while he was visiting Sweden.
The strike on Chernihiv, a city of beautiful boulevards and centuries-old churches located about 145 kilometres (90 miles) north of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, was described as “an ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss,” he added.
According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko on Telegram, of the 129 people who were injured during the search and rescue operation, 15 of them were minors and 15 were police officers. Viacheslav Chaus, the regional governor, reported later on Telegram that 140 persons had sought medical attention and that 41 of them were hospitalised.
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Debris was scattered across a square in front of the damaged theatre and surrounding buildings, where parked vehicles were heavily damaged. A 63-year-old who only gave her first name, Valentyna, showed the damaged balcony in her apartment opposite the theatre.
“It is horrific. Horrific. There were wounded, ambulances and broken glass in here. Nightmare. Just nightmare,” she said.
The roof of the neoclassical theatre was torn off by the strike./Reuters