Girl, six, is among the dead and her mother seriously wounded as Russia kills five and wounds 37 in artillery attack on Ukrainian city of Chernihiv

A six-year-old girl is among the dead after a Russian missile hit the central square of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.

At least six people were killed and dozens injured in the attack on a university building and a theater.

Local residents were on their way to church to celebrate a religious holiday when the strike took place, the ministry said.

“A Russian missile hit right in the center of the city, in our Chernihiv. A square, the polytechnic, a theater,” President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was on a working visit to Sweden, wrote on Telegram.

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

The Ukrainian president added: “This is what a neighborhood with a terrorist state is, this is what we are uniting the whole world against.”

An ambulance is pictured near the site of a Russian missile strike, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv

Fire trucks rush to the Chernihiv site where the rocket attack took place

A short video at Zelenskiy’s post showed debris scattered across a square in front of the regional drama theater, where parked cars were badly damaged.

One body was also briefly seen in the video, slumped in a car.

The center of Chernihiv has since been closed to allow emergency services access to the area.

Regional governor Vyacheslav Chaus wrote in a telegram that the attack was “probably a ballistic missile.”

Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the frontline with missiles and drones as part of its full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.

Chernihiv, which is close to the border with Belarus, was occupied by Russian troops early on during Moscow’s attack on Ukraine. It was later liberated and recaptured by Kiev forces.

An aid worker stands at the scene of a Russian missile strike, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv

A view shows the scene of a Russian missile strike, which left five dead and dozens injured

During the attack on the Ukrainian city on Saturday, Russia claimed it had thwarted a drone attack in Kiev on a military airfield in the Novgorod region, an area between Moscow and St Petersburg that had not previously been targeted.

“Today at about 10 a.m. Moscow time, the Kiev regime carried out a terrorist attack using a helicopter-type drone on a military airport in the Novgorod region,” the Russian military said in a statement. It said it was shot “with small arms.”

This is a breaking news story. More to follow…