A Russian missile strike on Ukraine's northern city of Chernihiv on Saturday killed seven people and wounded more than 100 others on Saturday, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said. The strike came hours after the Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin met with the commander of Russia’s war in Ukraine at army headquarters in southern Russia. Read about the day's events as they unfolded on our liveblog. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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5:55pm: Chernihiv residents in shock after missile attack on Orthodox festival
Reporting from Chernihiv, FRANCE 24’s Emmanuel Chaze says the Russian missile struck the city’s main square just as many residents were leaving church on the Orthodox holiday of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
Chaze arrived in Chernihiv around an hour after the attack to find people in shock.
“It’s a special day here in Ukraine for the Orthodox community. It was a day of celebration. A lot of people were just out of the church, they were making their way back to their homes. They were just walking to the city centre when this missile, an Iskander precision missile, hit the very heart of Chernihiv,” she explained. “We talked to people. They were really shocked because from one moment to the next, their lives changed dramatically.”
3:51pm: UN condemns 'heinous' Russian attack on Chernihiv
The UN's humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine has condemned the deadly Russian missile attack on Chernihiv's central square as "heinous" and has called on Moscow to end strikes on "populated areas".
"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," Denise Brown, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said in an online statement.
She was referring to the Orthodox holiday of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which saw some in Chernihiv attending church services in the morning.
"Attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law," she added.
2:36pm: Death toll rises in missile strike on Chernihiv
A woman's body was found under the rubble of a building destroyed in a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Saturday, bringing the death toll to seven, according to Interior Minister Igor Klymenko.
A 6-year-old girl was among the dead.
At least 90 others, including 12 children, were wounded in the attack on downtown Chernihiv.
12:37pm: Moscow says thwarted Ukrainian drone attack on airfield in northwest Russia
Russia on Saturday said it had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield in the Novgorod region, an area between Moscow and St Petersburg not previously targeted.
"Today at about 10am Moscow time, the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack using a copter-type drone on a military airfield in the Novgorod region," the Russian army said in a statement. It said it was shot down "by small arms".
12:36pm: Russian strike on Ukraine's Chernihiv kills six, wounds 37, says Kyiv
A Russian strike on a central square in Ukraine's northern city of Chernihiv on Saturday killed at least six people and wounded 37, Ukraine's interior minister said.
12:07pm: Zelensky says Russia hit university and theatre in Chernihiv, warns of casualties
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that the Russian army had hit the central square of the northern city of Chernihiv including a theatre and a university, warning that there are "dead" and "wounded".
Chernihiv lies some 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Kyiv towards the border with Moscow-allied Belarus.
"A Russian missile hit right in the centre of the city, in our Chernihiv," Zelensky said on Telegram.
"A square, the polytechnic university, a theatre. An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss. There are dead, there are wounded."
11:15am: Russia shelled centre of northern Ukrainian city Chernihiv, local authorities say
Russia on Saturday shelled the centre of the northern Ukrainian city Chernihiv, which has been spared from large-scale attacks since the first months of Moscow's invasion last year, local authorities said.
"The enemy shelled the centre of Chernihiv. Preliminarily, a ballistic missile," the head of the Chernihiv region, Vyacheslav Chaus, said on Telegram. "Stay in hiding places. Details afterwards."
11:08am: Zelensky visits Sweden for talks with government, royal family
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a visit to Sweden on Saturday, saying he had arrived in the Scandinavian country for talks with the government, political parties and the Swedish royal family.
The visit comes almost a year and a half into the Russian invasion of Ukraine and as Stockholm is set on joining NATO, like its neighbour Finland.
"Olena and I arrived in Sweden," Zelensky said on social media, referring to his wife. He said he will hold talks focused on "partnership, defence cooperation, EU integration, and common Euro-Atlantic security".
"I thank all Swedes who support Ukraine."
9:28am: Putin visits generals overseeing Ukraine war in southern Russia, says Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the commander of Moscow's war in Ukraine in an army headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the Kremlin said in the early hours of Saturday.
"Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operation group in Rostov-on-Don," the Kremlin said in a statement.
"The head of state 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."
8:18am: Ukraine says it destroyed 15 Russian drones during overnight attack
Ukrainian defences shot down 15 Russian drones during an overnight attack, Ukraine's air force said Saturday.
It said 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones were used in the aerial assault, and did not specify what happened to the other two.
Russian forces "attacked from the north with 'Shahed-136/131' attack UAVs. A total of 17 attack drones were launched from the Kursk region," the Ukrainian force said on Telegram.
It added that air defences were activated in "northern and central, as well as in the western regions".
7:37am: F-16 fighter jets will not arrive in Ukraine 'anytime soon'
Reporting from Kyiv, FRANCE 24 correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze said that people in the Ukrainian capital are "being quite realistic" about Washington's announcement of its approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to deliver F-16s to Ukraine.
The fighter jets will not come to Ukraine "anytime soon", Chaze said. "The (Ukrainian) government already acknowledged that it's not going to happen this autumn, probably not this winter."
"The pilots need at least six months of training and there are not so many pilots who can be immediately trained [...] there are eight pilots who can undergo immediate training while others are first being sent to an English class in England to be able to follow the training in English-speaking countries."
"All those hurdles mean that the fighter jets will not come to Ukraine anytime soon and that also means that it's not going to give Kyiv a decisive advantage in its counteroffensive," Chaze added.
Key developments from Friday, August 18:
Ukraine and neighbouring Romania signed an agreement Friday to work together to boost Kyiv’s exports of grain through Romania after Moscow broke off a key wartime shipping agreement that allowed safe passage through the Black Sea.
The US gave its approval for the Netherlands to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, the Dutch defence minister said Friday, in a major gain for Kyiv even though the planes won’t have an immediate impact on the almost 18-month war against Russia.
Read yesterday's liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
