Day 784: Russian missile strike on central Chernihiv kills 17, injures more than 60 others

A Russian missile strike on central Chernihiv kills 17, injures more than 60 others. Ukraine’s strike at the Dzhankoy airfield in Crimea purportedly destroys Russia’s S-400 air defense system. Ukrainian drones target Russia’s Container over-the-horizon radar in Mordovia.

Russian missile strike on central Chernihiv kills 17, injures more than 60 others

At least 17 people were killed and more than 60, including children, were wounded in Chernihiv on Wednesday when Russian missiles struck the city. 

According to the head of the Chernihiv regional military administration, Vyacheslav Chaus, the missiles hit close to the city center. An eight-story building was directly targeted, it is part of the city’s social infrastructure, acting mayor Oleksandr Lomako said. 

The central building of the Chernihiv Polytechnic National University was also damaged in the attack. The shockwave blew out windows and doors. Luckily, there were no casualties among the students or professors, university rector, Oleh Novomlynets told Suspilne Chernihiv.

Explosions rocked Chernihiv shortly after an air raid alert was declared on Wednesday morning. Ukraine’s Air Force warned of missiles en route to the city. Russia fired three Iskander cruise missiles at Chernihiv, head of the Chernihiv regional military administration, Vyacheslav Chaus said.

“This would not have happened if Ukraine had received enough air defense equipment and if the world’s determination to counter Russian terror had been also sufficient,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyi wrote on X.

Ukraine’s strike at Dzhankoy airfield in Crimea purportedly destroys Russia’s S-400 air defense system

Overnight on Wednesday, explosions sounded in Crimea’s Dzhankoy that hosts a Russian air base. 

Footage circulated on social media showed a fire near a local airfield.

According to the Telegram channel Krymskiy Veter (Crimean Wind), the Dzhankoy airfield is home to Russia’s 39th helicopter regiment of the 27th mixed aviation division, part of the 4th army of Russia’s aerospace and air defense forces. Three aviation squadrons are also based there. 

Reports on social media say the strike hit the Dzhankoy airfield.

An anonymous Telegram channel released a photo that purports to show a destroyed S-400 Triumph air defense system. “The first strike hit an S-400 Triumph air defense system, destroying three launchers and a radar unit. The second wave [of missiles] struck a repair and maintenance hub for military equipment of the 77th anti-aircraft brigade,” it said.

At least 15 Russian personnel were wounded and 22 went missing following the attack, according to unverified reports. 

Ukrainian drones target Russia’s Container over-the-horizon radar in Mordovia

Ukrainian drones targeted the 590th separate radio engineering center of military unit 84680 in the city of Kovylkino, in Russia’s Mordovia Republic on Wednesday. Ukraine’s defense intelligence is behind the attack, a source in the agency told The New Voice of Ukraine (NV).

The drones hit targets around 680 kilometers from the border. They aimed at a 29B6 Container over-the-horizon radar that can spot targets up to a distance of around 3,000 kilometers and up to a height of more than 100 kilometers. 

The radar forms part of Russia’s reconnaissance and early-warning network for aerospace attacks. The first such system was built between 2000 and 2002.

This is not the first drone attack on the site. Overnight on April 11, two drones targeted Mordovia, head of the republic, Artyom Zdunov said. Air defenses took down the drones, he said.

Russia’s defense ministry said that drones were shot down in the Kursk, Tambov, Belgorod, Bryansk, and Lipetsk regions, and in Mordovia. The two drones targeting Mordovia were destroyed over military unit 84680, home to the Container radar, according to Russian media.

Ukrainian Renaissance Challenges ‘Great’ Russian Cultural Narrative. Ukraine in Flames #599

Russia identifies itself as the legal successor of the Soviet Union. And they continue to annihilate Ukrainians and everything related to Ukraine. As of November last year, PEN Ukraine compiled a list of 71 names of Ukrainian artists, who were killed by Russian occupiers on Ukrainian land. PEN Ukraine included Victoria Amelina and Volodymyr Vakulenko in the “New Executed Renaissance” – Ukrainian artists killed by Russia. Similarly, 90 years ago, the intellectual elite of Ukraine was destroyed by Stalin’s totalitarian regime. Watch Ukraine in flames #599 to find out about how “Great” Russian culture served as a convenient tool to promote Russian imperialistic ideas, and how the Russian regime has been annihilating and destroying Ukrainian culture for centuries, continuing this genocidal cultural policy today.

Guests:

  • Olena Grozovska, Ukrainian artist, book illustrator, art critic, curator of art projects, singer
  • Ihor Stokoz, Public activist
  • Yuriy Lukanov, Ukrainian journalist and writer