Russia kills five and wounds 37 in artillery attack on Ukrainian city of Chernihiv as university and theatre are hit

Five people have been killed and 37 wounded after a Russian missile struck a central square in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

People had been on their way to church to celebrate a religious holiday when the strike took place, the ministry said.

Among the wounded victims were 11 children, the interior minister Igor Klymenko said on Telegram

‘A Russian missile hit right in the centre of the city, in our Chernihiv. A square, the polytechnic university, a theatre,’ President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was on a working visit to Sweden, posted on Telegram.

‘An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss,’ he added.

Fire engines rush to the scene in Chernihiv where the missile strike took place

A short video accompanying Zelenskiy’s post showed debris scattered across a square in front of the regional drama theatre, where parked cars were heavily damaged.

One body could also be briefly seen in the video slouched inside a car.

The centre of Chernihiv has since been closed to allow emergency services to access the area.

Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the front line with missiles and drones as part of its full-scale invasion launched February 2022.

An emergency service worker stands at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv

A view shows the site of a Russian missile strike, where five were killed and dozens were wounded

Amid the strike on the Ukrainian city, Russia claimed on Saturday that it had thwarted a Kyiv drone attack on a military airfield in the Novgorod region, an area between Moscow and Saint Petersburg not previously targeted.

‘Today at about 10 am Moscow time, the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack using a copter-type drone on a military airfield in the Novgorod region,’ the Russian army said in a statement. It said it was shot down ‘by small arms’.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow…