A Russian missile attack on the center of a northern Ukrainian city on Saturday left seven people dead and more than 100 injured, including children, Ukrainian officials said.
The Chernihiv attack came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Sweden on his first foreign trip since attending a NATO summit in Lithuania last month.
Footage of the aftermath shows heavily damaged buildings, including a theater with roofs blown off, cars overturned and survivors walking through the rubble with bloodied clothes. Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that among those killed in the daytime air strike was a 6-year-old girl, while 15 children were among 129 injured.
Klymenko said the square in front of the theater building was bustling with life, with people returning from church after celebrating the religious feast of the Messiah's Apples Festival with baskets of apples in their hands. consecrated. After the strike, debris from the roof of the theater strewn across the square, along with shards of glass from car windows and nearby restaurants.
Organizer Mariia Berlinska confirmed the attack took place at a gathering place for drone manufacturers and air reconnaissance training schools. Berlinska said the event was officially agreed in advance with the local government and the venue. Chernihiv City Council refused to approve the event or issue a permit.
Zelenskyy said the attack showed that Russia was a "terrorist state" and that the world needed to unite against it. "A Russian missile hit right in the center of the city, in our Chernihiv," he wrote on Telegram. “A square, a polytechnic, a theatre. An ordinary Saturday, which Russia has turned into a day of pain and loss.
Chernihiv was surrounded by Russian troops at the start of the war, but they withdrew after Ukrainian forces regained control of areas north of Kyiv last April.
Zelenskyy arrived in Sweden on Saturday for an unannounced visit - his first to the Scandinavian nation since the full-blown invasion began. The war caused Sweden to abandon its longstanding policy of military non-alignment in favor of arms support for Ukraine and to join NATO, although the country is still waiting to join the alliance. At a joint press conference, Zelenskyy and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced that the two countries had agreed to cooperate in the production, training, and maintenance of the Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicle. Zelenskyy said Ukraine will begin production of the vehicles under the agreement.
He also encouraged Kristersson to "share" the Swedish Gripen fighter with Ukraine.
"We don't have air superiority and we don't have modern aircraft. In fact, Sweden's Gripen is the pride of your country and I think the prime minister can share that pride with you." Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. Sweden has said it will allow Ukrainian pilots to test Gripen aircraft but has so far ruled out handing any over to Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said "appropriate steps" will be taken in the coming weeks to help Ukraine get "the right aircraft".
“I will also negotiate with some other states tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. I believe that we together with our partners will do everything and achieve the right result in the sky so that the Russians do not have an advantage there," he said.
Denmark and the Netherlands said on Friday the United States had agreed to allow countries to supply U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
