Seven dead and 117 injured as Russian missile strikes theatre and university in Chernihiv

Seven people including a six-year-old girl have been killed after a Russian missile hit a theatre and university in the northern city of Chernihiv, Ukraine.

The strike left 117 wounded including 12 children, the acting mayor of the city Oleksandr Lomako said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is on a visit to Sweden, condemned the attack on “an ordinary Saturday” which destroyed buildings in the centre of Chernihiv, around 60 miles from the Russian border.

“This is what a neighbourhood with a terrorist state is, this is what we unite the whole world against. A Russian missile hit right in the centre of the city, in our Chernihiv,” he tweeted. “A square, the polytechnic university, a theatre. An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss.”

Mr Zelensky was on his first visit to Sweden since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

He met Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson at his summer residence in Harpsund, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Stockholm. He was also expected to meet Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin visited top military officials in the city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border.

The Kremlin said that Mr Putin listened to reports from Valery Gerasimov, the commander in charge of Moscow’s operations in Ukraine, and other top military officials at the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District.

It was Mr Putin’s first visit to Rostov-on-Don since the Wagner mercenary group’s attempted mutiny in June, when the group’s fighters briefly took control of the city.

During June’s short-lived revolt, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin repeatedly denounced Mr Gerasimov, who serves as chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu for denying supplies to his fighters in Ukraine.

Mr Prigozhin claimed that the uprising was not aimed at Mr Putin but at removing Mr Gerasimov and other officials who he accused of mismanaging the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine this week has claimed counteroffensive gains on the southeastern front, regaining control of the village of Urozhaine in the eastern Donetsk region on Wednesday.

The general of the Russian battalion fighting to maintain control of Urozhaine called for “freezing the front” on Thursday, saying his troops “cannot win” against Ukraine.

“Can we bring down Ukraine militarily? Now and in the near future, no,” Alexander Khodakovsky said in a video posted to Telegram.

In the early hours of 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 were 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 Governor Vitalii Bunechko.

Additional reporting by Associated Press