Ukrainian officials reported that the attack on the city of Chenigov had claimed seven lives and injured dozens more, with Moscow yet to comment
Chernihiv, Ukraine, Aug. 19, 2023. © AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
A Russian strike that apparently involved a ballistic missile killed seven people and left more than a hundred injured in the city of Chernigov on Saturday morning, Ukrainian officials have reported. Moscow, which has consistently denied targeting civilians in the neighboring country, has yet to comment on the attack.
In a video posted on his Telegram channel, the head of Chenigov’s regional military administration, Vyacheslav Chaus, revealed that one child was among the victims. The official added that the local drama theater had been damaged, along with several other buildings.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Igor Klimenko claimed that at least some of the victims were leaving a church following an Orthodox ceremony when a rocket struck the city center.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky posted a video depicting damaged vehicles and buildings, as well as debris in the wake of the attack on Chernigov.
He accompanied the footage with a message in which he branded Russia a “terrorist state” and urged the world to unite behind Kiev by providing it with yet more weapons.
Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian media outlet Unian, the theater damaged in the attack was hosting a drone exhibition, which was being attended by numerous civilians.
A journalist who witnessed the strike claimed that the missile had targeted precisely that event.
A representative of one of the exhibition organizers took to social media to point out that the local authorities had given the green light to the event. She added that its exact location was sent out only to registered participants mere hours before it began. The data of the participants has now been handed over to the country’s domestic security service, the SBU, amid suspicions that one of the visitors may have leaked the venue’s location to the Russians.
Chernigov’s city council, for its part, has denied having been informed about the exhibition or having issued any permission for it to be held.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow, meanwhile, which typically insists that Russian forces strike only military targets in Ukraine, has yet to comment on the attack.
