Russia’s missile attack on Chernihiv city center: seven civilians killed, 117 injured

Russian forces targeted Ukraine's northern city of Chernihiv with a ballistic missile on the morning of August 19, authorities report. 

The latest update says the attack has killed seven civilians and injured 117, with 12 of them being children. Previously, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported a 6-year-old girl died when police officers were trying to provide medical assistance.

The local governor Viacheslav Chaus reported the attack, saying that a ballistic missile was likely used to strike the city center when most people gathered for various activities and fests.

Here's what it means to be neighbors with a terrorist state, here's what we are uniting the entire world against. A regular Saturday turned into a day of pain and loss caused by Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky says in his Telegram post.

Chernihiv's center square, polytechnic institute, and theater were impacted by the missile strike, the President said. 

The blast waves damaged hundreds of houses, shops, and bus stops. The number of casualties could have been much higher if people had not reacted two minutes before the strike, says Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.

Fortunately, most of the people who were on the street and inside this building, which is several dozen people, were able to go down to the shelter. And this saved them from inevitable death. Therefore, I would like to once again appeal to all citizens: do not ignore air raid alerts, Klymenko said.

Russian forces used a ballistic Iskander missile, which has an average flight speed of 2,000 meters per second. As the distance from Chernihiv to Russia's border is 80 kilometers, the missile can reach its target in less than a minute.

Chernihiv endured Russia's all-out war and occupation from February 24 to April 4, 2022. By the end of the siege, over half of the city's population (300,000) had left. The total civilian casualty count is unknown, though the ex-mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko claims 350–400 civilians had been killed, with up to 100 people being buried a day. 

On March 16, 2022, a Russian attack killed 14 civilians in Chernihiv, Ukraine, who were waiting in a line for bread.

Despite fully withdrawing from the region in late March, Russian shelling of Chernihiv continued throughout April and May, causing numerous casualties.