Current:Home > StocksRussian missile attack kills 7, including 6-year-old girl, in northern Ukrainian city-LoTradeCoin
Russian missile attack kills 7, including 6-year-old girl, in northern Ukrainian city
View Date:2024-12-24 21:01:32
A Russian missile attack in the center of a northern Ukrainian city on Saturday killed seven people and wounded over a hundred others, including children, Ukrainian officials said.
The attack in Chernihiv happened as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Sweden on his first foreign trip since attending a NATO summit in Lithuania last month.
Images of the aftermath showed badly damaged buildings including a theater with its roof blown away, mangled cars and survivors walking amid the debris with bloodstained clothes. The dead in the daytime strike included a 6-year-old girl, while 15 children were among the 129 wounded, Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
The square in front of the theater building had been bustling with life, with people returning from church after celebrating the Apple Feast of the Savior religious holiday, baskets of consecrated apples in hand, Klymenko said. Following the strike, debris from the theater roof littered the square, along with shattered glass from the windows of nearby cars and restaurants.
A CBS News team happened to be driving towards the city center at the moment the missile struck.
"I saw sparks, fire, and we started to fall, the glass shattered," Lilia told CBS News. "Everyone was screaming."
First responders rushing to the scene were just as shocked as local residents. Red Cross worker Andriy Yashchenko told CBS News the attack took everyone by surprise as Chernihiv has been spared the worst of the war for much of this year.
"Many people were injured, and we tried to save lives," Yashchenko said. "And it's bad because many people died. And a lot of bleeding."
The strike hit the theater during a gathering of drone manufacturers and aerial reconnaissance training schools, organizer Mariia Berlinska confirmed. Berlinska said that the event was officially agreed in advance with both the local authorities and the venue. The Chernihiv City Council denied that they had approved the event or issued any permits.
Zelenskyy said the attack showed Russia was a "terrorist state" and that the world must unite against it.
"A Russian missile hit right in the center of the city, in our Chernihiv," he wrote on Telegram. "A square, the polytechnic university, a theater. An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss."
Chernihiv was surrounded by Russian forces at the start of the war but they withdrew after Ukrainian forces retook control of areas north of Kyiv in April last year.
Zelenskyy arrived in Sweden on an unannounced visit Saturday — his first to the Scandinavian country since the start of the full-scale invasion. The war prompted Sweden to abandon its longstanding policy of military nonalignment to support Ukraine with weapons and apply for NATO membership, though it is still waiting to join the alliance.
At a joint news conference, Zelenskyy and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced the two countries had agreed to cooperate on the production, training and servicing of Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicles. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would start manufacturing the vehicles as part of the deal.
He also encouraged Kristersson to "share" Sweden's Gripen fighter aircraft with Ukraine.
"We do not have superiority in the air, and we do not have modern aircraft. In reality, the Swedish Gripen is the pride of your country, and I believe that the prime minister could share this pride with Ukraine," Zelenskyy said.
Sweden has said it will allow Ukrainian pilots to test the Gripen planes but has so far ruled out giving any to Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said "appropriate actions" would be taken in coming weeks to help Ukraine obtain "appropriate aircraft."
"I will also have negotiations with several other states tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. I am confident that we, together with our partners, will do everything and achieve the appropriate result in the sky so that the Russians do not have an advantage there," he said.
Denmark and the Netherlands said Friday that the United States had given its approval for the countries to deliver U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Sweden says it has provided 1.7 billion euros in military support to Ukraine, including Archer artillery units, Leopard 2 tanks and CV90 armored vehicles.
Zelenskyy met with Kristersson and other Swedish officials at Harpsund, the prime minister's official summertime residence, about 75 miles west of Stockholm. He and first lady Olena Zelenska later met Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at a palace in the area.
Kristersson expressed his condolences to Zelenskyy for the attack in Chernihiv. He called the Russian missile strike an "act of brutality" which "only reinforces the need for us to stand with you in all your struggles."
Overnight into Saturday, Ukraine's air force said it shot down 15 out of 17 Russian drones targeting northern, central and western regions.
The deputy governor of the western Khmelnytskyi region, Serhii Tiurin, said two people were wounded and dozens of buildings damaged by an attack.
In the northwestern Zhytomyr region, a Russian drone attack targeted an infrastructure facility and caused a fire, but no casualties were reported, said Gov. Vitalii Bunechko.
- In:
- War
- Politics
- Sweden
- Vladimir Putin
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy
veryGood! (4)
Related
- Harriet Tubman posthumously named a general in Veterans Day ceremony
- Shohei Ohtani helping donate 60,000 baseball gloves to Japanese schools
- 2023 Veterans Day deals: Free meals and discounts at more than 70 restaurants, businesses
- Climate change isn't a top motivator in elections. But it could impact key races
- John Krasinski is People's Sexiest Man Alive. What that says about us.
- Virginia's Perris Jones has 'regained movement in all of his extremities'
- Jury finds man not guilty of assaulting woman at U.S. research station in Antarctica
- Iranian-born Norwegian man is charged over deadly Oslo Pride attack in 2022
- See Leonardo DiCaprio's Transformation From '90s Heartthrob to Esteemed Oscar Winner
- Pakistan is planting lots of mangrove forests. So why are some upset?
Ranking
- Subway rider who helped restrain man in NYC chokehold death says he wanted ex-Marine to ‘let go’
- Manchin decision hurts Democrats’ Senate hopes and sparks new speculation about a presidential bid
- Jerome Powell's fed speech today brought interest rate commentary and a hot mic moment
- Puerto Rico declares flu epidemic with 42 deaths, over 900 hospitalizations
- Missouri prosecutor says he won’t charge Nelly after an August drug arrest
- United Nations suspends pullout of African Union troops from Somalia as battles with militants rage
- Former New York comptroller Alan Hevesi, tarnished by public scandals, dies at 83
- NATO member Romania pushes to buy 54 Abrams battle tanks from US
Recommendation
-
Jennifer Lopez Turns Wicked Premiere Into Family Outing With 16-Year-Old Emme
-
Nonbinary teacher at Florida school fired for using 'Mx.' as courtesy title
-
Once dubbed Australia's worst female serial killer, Kathleen Folbigg could have convictions for killing her 4 children overturned
-
The Eras Tour returns: See the new surprise songs Taylor Swift played in Argentina
-
Black women notch historic Senate wins in an election year defined by potential firsts
-
Apple to pay $25 million to settle allegations of discriminatory hiring practices in 2018, 2019
-
AJ McLean Reveals Where He and Wife Rochelle Stand 8 Months After Announcing Separation
-
NFL Week 10 picks: Can 49ers end skid against surging Jaguars?