Volodymyr Zelensky vows retaliation for Russia attack that killed seven in Chernihiv, Ukraine

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed a stern retaliation to the Russian missile strike in the centre of the northern city of Chernihiv that killed seven people and wounded more than 100 others.

“I am sure our soldiers will respond to Russia for this terrorist attack. Respond tangibly,” Zelensky said in a video address published in the early hours of Sunday at the end of a visit to Sweden, his first foreign trip since attending a Nato summit in Lithuania last month.

He named a six-year-old girl, Sofia, as among the dead in the attack and confirmed that the wounded included 15 children.

The governor of the Chernihiv region, Vyacheslav Chaus, said on Sunday that the total number of people wounded had risen to 148.

Further east, Russian forces shelled the city of Kupiansk on Sunday morning, seriously wounding a man, according to Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Firefighters near damaged buildings in Chernihiv, Ukraine. PA Media

A man was killed later on Sunday in Russian shelling of Vovchansk, also in the Kharkiv region, according to Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry.

Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday, two days after the country said the United States had given its approval for Dutch and Danish authorities to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine’s air force.

At a military air base in the southern city of Eindhoven, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte told Zelensky that the Netherlands and Denmark are committing to deliver F-16 warplanes to Ukraine.

The announcement came minutes after Rutte and Zelensky inspected two F-16 jets parked in a hangar at the base.

Meanwhile in Russia on Sunday, the defence ministry said on Sunday that its air defence systems had prevented an attack by two drones on the neighbouring Belgorod region, which also borders Ukraine.

In a separate statement, Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that 12 airborne targets had been shot down while approaching the regional capital, also called Belgorod.

Meanwhile, Russian air defences jammed a drone flying towards Moscow early Sunday causing it to crash. Russia’s Defence Ministry called it “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack”.

Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports briefly suspended flights, but no victims or damage were reported.

The Russian attack damaged buildings in Chernihiv. PA Media

In the city of Kursk, five people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone hit a train station in the city of Kursk, regional governor Roman Starovoit said. Kursk is the capital of the western region of the same name, which borders Ukraine.

According to Starovoit, the drone crashed into the roof of the railway station building, with a fire subsequently breaking out on the roof.

Later on Sunday, Starovoit reported that a drone attack on an electrical substation on Saturday had left over 5,500 people in two districts without power, which was later restored.

Ukrainian authorities, which generally avoid commenting on attacks on Russian soil, did not say whether it launched the attacks. Drone strikes on the Russian border regions are a fairly regular occurrence.

Drone attacks deeper inside Russian territory have been on the rise since a drone was destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Successful strikes have exposed the vulnerabilities of Moscow’s air defence systems.