A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows rescuers working at the area where a missile hit the Drama Theatre downtown of Chernihiv, Ukraine, 19 August 2023. EFE/EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

6 killed in Russian attack on Chernihiv in Ukraine

Kyiv, Aug 19 (EFE).– At least 6 people, including a six-year-old girl, died in a Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, according to Ukraine’s state owned Ukrinform agency on Saturday.

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows rescuers working at the area where a missile hit the Drama Theatre downtown of Chernihiv, Ukraine, 19 August 2023. EFE/EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

The attack occurred around noon at the city center, where at least one missile directly hit a theater, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows a man sitting next to the covered body of a victim at the area where a missile hit the Drama Theatre downtown of Chernihiv, Ukraine, 19 August 2023. EFE/EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

“Unfortunately, six people died. (…) A six-year-old girl died in the hospital and her mother is in an extremely serious condition. Thirty-six people were injured and are in medical facilities,” said the minister.

The scene of a missile hit at the Drama Theatre in central Chernihiv, Ukraine, 19 August 2023. EFE/EPA/OLEG PETRASYUK

“All medical facilities are working, people go there. Volunteers are already working here, medical workers, all rescuers are working,” Klymenko added, underlining that it was “a terrorist attack on a civilian object, on the civilian population of our country.”

The scene of a missile hit at the Drama Theatre in central Chernihiv, Ukraine, 19 August 2023. EFE/EPA/OLEG PETRASYUK

Chernihiv, 140 kilometers north of Kyiv, has been a city under constant siege by Russian troops since the beginning of the invasion, although the Ukrainian army managed to withstand its attacks and prevent it from falling under enemy control.

The scene of a missile hit at the Drama Theatre in central Chernihiv, Ukraine, 19 August 2023. EFE/EPA/OLEG PETRASYUK

“Today, a Russian missile hit the heart of Chernihiv. A square, a university, and a theater. Russia turned an ordinary Saturday into a day of pain and loss. There are casualties. My condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Earlier during the day, Zelenskyy had landed in Sweden, where he was expected to meet with the country’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and King Carl XVI Gustaf. EFE

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