A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northern metropolis of Chernihiv killed seven individuals and wounded greater than 100 on Saturday, in what the UN denounced as a “heinous” assault.

The strike got here in the course of the Orthodox vacation of the Transfiguration of the Lord, as some attended morning church companies within the metropolis.

“It is 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,” mentioned Denise Brown, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine.

“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 UNESCO, the UN’s cultural organisation, mentioned she was “appalled” by the assault, in a submit on social media.

“The theater partially destroyed and other cultural and educational premises damaged. All my thoughts to the victims,” she wrote.

Ukraine’s tradition ministry mentioned the centre of Chernihiv, a metropolis with a thousand-year historical past, is a candidate for nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The metropolis, 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Kyiv in the direction of Belarus, had till now been largely spared from main assaults because the first months of Russia’s invasion as fierce combating rages within the east and south.

The Russian military marched by means of town when it invaded Ukraine by means of Belarus in February 2022, earlier than being repelled by Kyiv’s forces.

‘Pain and loss’

Interior Minister Igor Klymenko mentioned that after the search and rescue operation had been accomplished, the toll stood at seven useless and 129 wounded, together with 15 youngsters and 15 cops.

The performing Mayor of Chernihiv, Oleksandr Lomako, mentioned a six-year-old woman was among the many fatalities.

From a hospital mattress, her legs nonetheless lined in blood, Diana Kazakova mentioned she had been inside a store when the strike occurred simply minutes after sirens had sounded the alert.

When she got here too, she mentioned “people were crying, shouting” on the street exterior. “It was scary.”

Iryna, a 24-year-old bartender in Chernihiv, instructed AFP: “There was smoke, screams, people were running, crying, moaning. We ran to the shelter when everything happened and sat there.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned the assault had hit a sq. that homes a “polytechnic university, a theatre”.

“An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss,” he mentioned, after his arrival in Sweden.

Zelensky was in Sweden for talks with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and to finalise settlement on “joint production of CV90 combat vehicles in Ukraine,” the Ukraine chief mentioned.

They additionally mentioned Ukraine pilots collaborating in check trials of Swedish Gripen fighter jets, he mentioned.

Putin meets army prime brass

Hours earlier, the Kremlin mentioned Putin had travelled to the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don, Moscow’s hub for its operations in Ukraine, to satisfy his prime generals in a uncommon journey near fight zones.

Moscow gave no particulars of when the assembly occurred, however footage launched by state media indicated it was at evening.

Putin “listened to briefings by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, commanders of directions and other senior officers of the group”, the Kremlin mentioned.

A video revealed by the RIA Novosti information company confirmed Putin, carrying a swimsuit, stepping out of a jeep at nighttime and being greeted with a handshake by Gerasimov, in army apparel.

Gerasimov is seen main Putin down a hall embellished with portraits of Russian army males and of the president chairing a gathering with military chiefs.

Rostov-on-Don was additionally the scene of a dramatic armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries in June, which noticed them briefly take over the military HQ in Rostov, earlier than halting their rise up.

Gerasimov, who Wagner wished to unseat, has hardly ever been seen in public since.

Drone assaults

Kyiv mentioned it had shot down greater than a dozen Russian drones in an in a single day assault.

And the Russian military mentioned it had thwarted Ukrainian assaults on Crimea in addition to tried drone strikes on a army airfield within the northwestern Novgorod area, Moscow and its area.

A day earlier, Russian forces destroyed Ukrainian drones focusing on Moscow and the Black Sea Fleet.

Both sides have reported common drone incursions as Ukraine presses a counteroffensive to reclaim Russian-held territory.

Russia’s military additionally mentioned it had “eliminated” 150 Ukrainian troops that attempted to cross the Dnipro River into Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine, a day after admitting sabotage teams have been working within the space.