A missile attack in the centre of a northern Ukrainian city killed seven people and wounded scores of others on Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Sweden, his first visit to the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
The dead in the daytime strike on the northern city of Chernihiv included a six-year-old girl, while 15 children were among the 129 wounded, acting mayor Oleksandr Lomako said.
Mr Zelensky condemned the attack, which he said hit buildings including a theatre and a university.
“This is what a neighbourhood with a terrorist state is, this is what we unite the whole world against.
Ten outcomes of our talks with @SwedishPM Ulf Kristersson.
1. We agreed to work on the joint production of CV-90s armoured vehicles in Ukraine.
2. Ukrainian warriors began training to operate Swedish “Archers”.
3. Ukrainian pilots are already taking part in testing “Gripen”… pic.twitter.com/niPSOke4OGAdvertisement— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 19, 2023
“A Russian missile hit right in the centre of the city, in our Chernihiv,” he wrote on Telegram.
“A square, the polytechnic university, a theatre. An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss.”
In Sweden, Mr Zelensky met officials at Harpsund, the prime minister’s official summertime residence, about 75 miles west of Stockholm. He will also meet Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at a palace in the area.
At a joint news conference, Mr Zelensky and Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson announced that the two countries agreed to strengthen co-operation on production and training and servicing of the Swedish CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles.
As part of the agreement, Mr Zelensky said, Swedish CV-90 vehicles will begin production in Ukraine.
This is what it means to live next to a terrorist state. This is what we are uniting the entire world against.
Today, a Russian missile hit the heart of Chernihiv. A square, a university, and a theater. Russia turned an ordinary Saturday into a day of pain and loss. There are… pic.twitter.com/AMgXCVfR7h— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 19, 2023
He also stressed the importance of supplying Ukraine with modern aircraft.
“We do not have superiority in the air, and we do not have modern aircraft. In reality, the Swedish Gripen is the pride of your country, and I believe that the pime minister could share this pride with Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that “appropriate actions” would be taken in the following weeks to “open up the possibility of obtaining the appropriate aircraft”.
“I will also have negotiations with several other states tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
“I am confident that we, together with our partners, will do everything and achieve the appropriate result in the sky so that the Russians do not have an advantage there,” he said.
Mr Kristersson expressed his condolences to Mr Zelensky for the attack in Chernihiv. He called the Russian missile strike an “act of brutality” which “only reinforces the need for us to stand with you in all your struggles”.
Sweden abandoned its longstanding policy of military nonalignment to support Ukraine with weapons and other aid in the war against Russia.
The government says Sweden has provided 20 billion kronor (£1.43 billion) in military support to Ukraine. Sweden also applied for Nato membership but is still waiting to join the alliance.
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 brass at the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District.
The exact timings of his visit were not confirmed, but state media published video footage that appeared to be filmed at night, showing Mr Gerasimov greeting Mr Putin and leading him into a building. The meeting itself was held behind closed doors.
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.
Overnight into 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 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.
