Seven people, including a 6-year-old child, were killed and 90 injured when a Russian missile hit the central square in the historic city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

Wounded near the Drama Theater during the Russian offensive on the city of ChernihivPhoto: Anatoly STEPANOV / AFP / Profimedia

The moment of the attack, which was caught on camera by a young woman who was filming

People were on their way to a church for a religious holiday when the attack took place, the ministry said, adding that 12 of the injured were children and 10 were police officers.

“A Russian missile hit the very center of the city, our Chernihiv. The square, the polytechnic university, the theater,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who is on a working visit to Sweden, wrote in Telegram.

“An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss,” he added.

In a short video for Zelenskyi’s post, you can see debris scattered on the square in front of the regional theater, where parked cars were heavily damaged. The video also briefly shows a body hunched over inside the car.

Chernihiv is a city of green boulevards and centuries-old churches, approximately 145 km north of the capital Kyiv. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the roof of the drama theater was destroyed as a result of the attack.

Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the front lines with missiles and drones as part of an invasion that began last February.

The Russians say the target was a military meeting

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti wrote that the Russians fired at a “gathering of military specialists from combat drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” in Chernihiv, reports “Ukrainian Pravda”.

Campaigners claimed the event was “disguised” as organizers advised participants not to wear military uniforms.