UN condemns deadly Russian attack on Ukraine city
A Russian missile strike on Ukraine's northern city of Chernihiv killed seven people and wounded 148, the regional governor said Sunday, in what the UN denounced as a "heinous" attack.
The strike came during the Orthodox holiday of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Saturday, as some attended morning church services in the city.
In an early-morning update, Vyacheslav Chaus, governor of Chernihiv region, said there were "7 people dead, 148 people received injuries".
"41 people remain in hospitals. 15 people underwent surgeries," he said in a post on Telegram, adding that "more than 500 homes suffered damage".
The strike hit the centre of the city, which is 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Kyiv towards Belarus, and which had largely been spared from major attacks since the first months of Russia's invasion as fierce fighting rages in the east and south.
The Russian army marched through the city when it invaded Ukraine through Belarus in February 2022, before being repelled by Kyiv's forces.
President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said the dead included "a girl, her name was Sofia, she was six years old", and that there were 15 children among the wounded.
"Our soldiers will respond to Russia for this terrorist attack -- a tangible answer," he vowed.
From a hospital bed, her legs still covered in blood, Diana Kazakova said she had been inside a shop when the strike happened just minutes after sirens sounded.
When she came to, she said, "people were crying, shouting" in the street outside. "It was scary."
Iryna, a 24-year-old bartender in Chernihiv, told AFP: "There was smoke, screams, people were running, crying, moaning. We ran to the shelter when everything happened and sat there."
The Russian army marched through the city when it invaded Ukraine through Belarus in February 2022, before being repelled by Kyiv's forces.
President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said the dead included "a girl, her name was Sofia, she was six years old", and that there were 15 children among the wounded.
"Our soldiers will respond to Russia for this terrorist attack -- a tangible answer," he vowed.
From a hospital bed, her legs still covered in blood, Diana Kazakova said she had been inside a shop when the strike happened just minutes after sirens sounded.
When she came to, she said, "people were crying, shouting" in the street outside. "It was scary."
Iryna, a 24-year-old bartender in Chernihiv, told AFP: "There was smoke, screams, people were running, crying, moaning. We ran to the shelter when everything happened and sat there." Denise Brown, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said it was "heinous to attack the main square of a large city, in the morning, while people are out walking, some going to church to celebrate a religious day for many Ukrainians".
"I condemn this repeated pattern of Russian strikes on populated areas of Ukraine... Attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law," she added.
Audrey Azoulay, director general of the UN's cultural organisation UNESCO, said she was "appalled" by the attack, in a post on social media.
Ukraine's culture ministry said the centre of Chernihiv, a city with a thousand-year history, is a candidate for nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Zelensky was in Sweden for talks with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, where he finalised "the production of CV90 (armoured vehicles) in our country".
"Everything powerful that serves us now, we must localise and produce. We will do so."
They also discussed Ukrainian pilots participating in test trials of Swedish Gripen fighter jets, he said in his evening address.
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