Deadly Russian Strike Hits City Center in Northern Ukraine

A Russian missile slammed into the middle of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine on Saturday, killing not less than seven individuals and injuring greater than 100, together with 12 youngsters, Ukrainian officers stated.

The missile tore by way of the primary sq. simply earlier than midday, as individuals have been leaving church after celebrating a holy day, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry stated.

“A Russian missile hit the heart of Chernihiv,” President Volodymyr Zelensky stated in an announcement. “A square, a university and a theater. Russia turned an ordinary Saturday into a day of pain and loss.”

Ukrainian officers and emergency companies launched graphic movies of the preliminary blast within the assault and the devastating aftermath. Victims could possibly be seen sprawled within the sq., surrounded by swimming pools of blood. The Interior Ministry stated a search-and-rescue operation was underway within the surrounding space.

The youngest identified sufferer was a 6-year-old lady who died at a neighborhood hospital, native officers stated.

Mr. Zelensky stated the lethal bombardment ought to remind the world that it wants to face united towards “Russian terror,” including: “For life to win, Russia must lose this war.”

The strike in Chernihiv, a chic metropolis that was battered by Russian forces throughout a siege within the first months of the warfare that finally failed, comes as Ukrainian forces are making incremental positive factors towards entrenched Russian forces within the south of the nation of their sluggish shifting counteroffensive.

Those advances are being earned by way of bloody battles throughout fields plagued by mines and backed by deeply dug-in Russian forces. At the identical time, Kyiv has stepped up its assaults on Russian army targets behind the entrance traces, together with some inside Russia.

On Saturday, a Ukrainian drone reached a Russian air base a whole lot of miles from the Ukrainian border within the Novgorod area, sparking a fireplace and damaging one plane, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated in an announcement.

The Russian army stated “a copter-type UAV,” or unmanned aerial automobile, was used to focus on the bottom and claimed to have shot it down. But on account of the assault, the ministry stated, “a fire broke out in the aircraft parking lot” and one airplane was broken. There have been no casualties, the ministry stated.

The Ukrainian Air Force, in an announcement on Telegram, celebrated the assault on the airfield, known as Soltsy, house to a fleet of Russian bombers which are ceaselessly used to hold out strikes aimed toward Ukrainian cities and cities.

The Kremlin has sought to minimize the importance of Ukrainian assaults inside Russia, looking for to take care of a way of normalcy and to reassure Russians that the warfare goes in keeping with plan. President Vladimir V. Putin, for his half, has stepped up his efforts to challenge authority over a army marketing campaign that has been marked by brutal techniques, setbacks and inside divisions.

The Kremlin stated Mr. Putin traveled to the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don to satisfy with army commanders, in his first publicized go to to the army hub because it was seized in June in a short-lived riot led by the Wagner mercenary chief, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin.

Rostov-on-Don is house to the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District, a strategic command heart for Mr. Putin’s warfare in Ukraine. Mr. Prigozhin briefly took management of the headquarters earlier than his fighters started advancing towards Moscow.

The Kremlin didn’t say when Mr. Putin visited the town, the place he met with the chief of the Russian army, Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov. General Gerasimov and Sergei Ok. Shoigu, the Russian protection minister, have been the first targets of criticism from Mr. Prigozhin within the lead-up to to the rebellion, which plunged the nation into disaster and raised questions on Mr. Putin’s management.

The go to, which appeared to happen at night time, comes as Mr. Putin continues an energetic schedule of public appearances and continues to sign that he’s sticking by his high generals. At the identical time, the final seen as closest to Mr. Prigozhin, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, nonetheless has not been seen in public because the mutiny.

After abruptly ending the rebellion, Wagner forces left Rostov-on-Don to the applause of some onlookers, suggesting that Mr. Prigozhin and his Wagner forces maintained not less than some widespread help there.

Since then, Mr. Prigozhin’s standing has been shrouded in thriller. He has apparently been in Belarus and was lately nonetheless capable of journey to Russia — final month, unverified photographs appeared to indicate him assembly with African leaders in St. Petersburg throughout a summit hosted by Mr. Putin. But his intensive media holdings, together with a troll farm that figured prominently in Russia’s interference within the U.S. presidential election in 2016, have largely been taken aside and state media has depicted him as a thug. He has additionally toned down his criticism of Russia’s high army leaders.

Here’s what else is occurring within the warfare:

• Zelensky Visit: Mr. Zelensky arrived on Saturday in Sweden, the place he stated in an announcement that he would proceed to work on bilateral cooperation, “in particular in the defense industry, the European integration of Ukraine and common security in the Euro-Atlantic space.”

  He added that Ukraine supported Sweden “on its way into NATO.” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, an alliance member that had been blocking Sweden’s entry, expressed help in July for the Nordic nation’s membership, however stated that it nonetheless wanted to take extra steps to earn the help of the Turkish Parliament.

• Camp David Summit: In his summit with the leaders of Japan and South Korea, President Biden counseled Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan for his nation’s help of Ukraine. “Imagine if we had done nothing?” the president stated. If the world had not come to Kyiv’s support, Mr. Biden added, hinting at U.S. officers’ concern about China taking army motion towards Taiwan, “What signal would that send to China?”

• Kerch Bridge Attack: The head of Ukraine’s safety companies revealed particulars of the nation’s first profitable assault on the one bridge linking occupied Crimea with Russia, saying that its operatives loaded a truck with 21 tons of explosives wrapped in packing movie to detonate the automobile in the course of the bridge.

  Vasyl Malyuk, the pinnacle of Ukraine’s Security Service, often known as the SBU, launched photographs of preparations for the assault on Oct. 8, 2022, in addition to particulars to the Ukrainian media outlet, New Voice, about how Ukraine managed to evade Russia’s defenses. Mr. Malyuk stated the Ukrainians used an explosive generally known as RDX, which is extra highly effective than TNT. The data was later launched on a Telegram channel run by the Ministry of Defense.

Paul Sonne contributed reporting from Berlin, and Victoria Kim from Seoul.