A Russian missile strike on a central square in the historic northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv killed seven people, including a six-year-old child, and injured 144 on Saturday, authorities said. Denise Brown, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, condemned it as a “heinous” attack.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces would give “a notable response” to the “terrorist attack”. Of the injured, 15 were children, he said. Fifteen others were police, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said. Most of the victims were in vehicles, crossing the road or returning from church, he said. The strike occurred during the Orthodox holiday of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Forty-one people were in hospital on Saturday, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said.
Training had begun for Ukrainians to operate US F-16 fighter jets but it would take at least six months and possibly longer, the Ukrainian defence minister said. Oleksiy Reznikov’s comments on Saturday came two days after a US official said F-16s would be transferred to Ukraine once its pilots were trained.
Ukraine has begun discussing with Sweden the possibility of receiving Gripen jets to boost its air defences, Zelenskiy said on Saturday after meeting Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson. Zelenskiy cast the talks as preliminary, saying: “Today we discussed in detail the future steps regarding the possibility of opening the subject of receiving Swedish Gripens.” Zelenskiy also said that Ukrainian pilots had already begun training on the planes. Kristersson made no mention of Gripens in his remarks. The two leaders announced that the two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation on production, training and servicing of Swedish CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 15 out of 17 Russian drones targeting northern, central and western regions overnight into Saturday. Civilian infrastructure was damaged in at least two regions, authorities said.
Russia’s defence ministry reported a flurry of Ukrainian drone attacks on Saturday targeting the regions of Moscow, Novgorod to the north-west of the Russian capital, and Belgorod, which borders Ukraine. The ministry said nobody was hurt. The Belgorod region, more than 600km from Moscow, is a vital stop on Russian supply lines and is frequently targeted by drones and missiles.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin visited top military officials in the city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border. The Kremlin said the Russian president listened to reports from Valery Gerasimov, the commander in charge of Moscow’s operations in Ukraine, and other top military figures at the headquarters of Russia’s southern military district.
