Seven dead in Chernihiv
Selenskyj announces “noticeable” reaction to attack
08/20/2023 06:42 am
On Saturday afternoon, a rocket fell not far from the Chernihiv Theater. The city center is particularly busy on this day, there are several deaths. The Ukrainian President announces a reaction. Russia, on the other hand, is once again the target of drone attacks.
After the deadly Russian rocket attack on the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a decisive response. “Our soldiers will give Russia a response to this terrorist attack – a tangible response,” he said. According to him, a seven-year-old girl was among the seven fatalities in the rocket attack in the city center. 144 people were injured. The UN condemned the “heinous” attack.
During the shelling of Chernihiv, a rocket landed in the middle of the city center, Zelenskyj explained on Telegram. A square, the Polytechnic University and a theater were hit. “An ordinary Saturday that Russia turned into a day of pain and loss,” he wrote. Among the 144 injured are 15 children.
AFP news agency journalists at the scene saw fire engines in front of the damaged building of the Taras Chevchenko Theater and Music Academy. Several other nearby buildings also sustained minor damage.
North otherwise spared from fierce fighting
“There was smoke, screams, people were running, crying, moaning. We ran to the shelter when everything was happening and sat there,” said 24-year-old bartender Iryna. “I’m still in a bit of shock, because something like this hasn’t happened in a long time.”
Chernihiv is around 150 kilometers north of Kiev towards the border with Belarus, which is allied with Russia. Russian forces had marched through Chernihiv at the start of the invasion in February 2022 and were then pushed back by Ukrainian forces. Unlike the east and the south, the north of Ukraine has since been largely spared from heavy fighting.
The attack on Chernihiv came shortly after the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin was meeting in southern Russia with generals in charge of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.
The United Nations condemned Saturday’s rocket attack. “It is abhorrent to attack the main square of a big city in the morning while people are walking, some going to church, to celebrate a religious day for many Ukrainians,” said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown.
Meanwhile, during a visit to Sweden, Selenskyj spoke about further military aid from the EU country. One topic was the joint production of CV90 light tanks, Zelenskyj wrote in the online service Telegram. In addition, tests with Ukrainian pilots on Swedish Gripen fighter jets have started. Both parties to the conflict declared on Saturday that they had fended off drone attacks. Kiev said it shot down more than a dozen Russian drones overnight.
In the Novgorod region in northwestern Russia, the Russian army said it fended off a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield. Another drone was fired in the direction of Moscow and the capital region and also shot down. The military also thwarted a Ukrainian attack on the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Moscow.
Ukraine may attack Kursk train station
According to Russian information, another Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday night hit a train station in Kursk in western Russia. The regional government said five people were injured. Kursk is only about 90 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
In addition, the Russian army said it had “eliminated” about 150 Ukrainian soldiers trying to cross the Dnipro River and into Russian-held territory. The Russian military “defeated” an “enemy” unit of around 150 people. Ukrainian forces are attempting to penetrate Moscow’s defenses on the Dnipro, the front line in the south of the country.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive has been sluggish so far. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba still firmly believes in success. The victory of the Ukrainian army will refute the “doubters,” Kuleba told the “Bild” newspaper, referring to speculation that the offensive would fail. “Have faith. Have patience. Winning is hard work.”