Death toll in Russian missile strike on Chernihiv rises to six

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said this on Ukrainian television, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Unfortunately, six people died. Five minutes ago, we were informed that a six-year-old girl died in the hospital and her mother is in an extremely serious condition. Thirty-six people were injured and are in medical facilities. Among them are also police officers and court security officers. These are all civilians who were either in the central square of the city of Chernihiv or were walking after the blessing of fruit from the nearest church," he said.

In total, 42 are known to have been killed or injured in the attack, but people will continue to seek help.

"Now, all medical facilities are working, people go there. Volunteers are already working here, medical workers, all rescuers are working, the prosecutor's office and the SBU have already arrived to document this barbaric crime, a terrorist attack on a civilian object, on the civilian population of our country. Assurances that they target only military facilities and military personnel only confirm that this is a lie. Because all the people who came today at 10 o'clock and were in the center of the city of Chernihiv, this applies not only to locals, but also to guests of the city, they came here with their children, they arrived in their own vehicles and tried to spend Saturday in the city of Chernihiv. The missile hit the Palace of Culture in the center of the city. [...] Of course, people were gathering, they were in cafes and nearby shops," Klymenko said.

According to him, many houses nearby were damaged by the blast waves. Law enforcement agencies go around all the apartments in order to make sure that there are no other victims.

"We will work until we document this next military terrorist crime by the Russian Federation and so that these materials are added to the final judgment of the international criminal courts," the minister added.

He also noted that the number of casualties could have been much higher if people had not reacted two minutes before the strike.

"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.