At 11:30 am on August 19, a Russian missile hit the center of Chernihiv

By the evening of August 19, the search and rescue operation after a missile attack on the center of Chernigov, on the city drama theater, was completed: 144 victims, 7 people were killed, including a 6-year-old child, 129 were injured, of which 15 were children and 15 police officers.

Such preliminary data was reported on Telegram by Alexander Lomako, Acting Mayor of Chernihiv:

“As of 15.25, 117 people were injured from the terrorist attack on the center of Chernigov, 7 of them died. By evening, the number of victims increased to 144.”

Three days of mourning has been declared in the city, from August 19 to 21, writes “UP”. Igor Klymenko, Interior Minister, said that the main victims during the attack were in vehicles or crossing the road near the drama theater, and were also returning from the church:

“Everyone who was in the drama theater went down to the shelter in time. The national police, after the air raid alert, tried to get everyone into the shelter.”

Behind the theater there is a large park – mothers with children walked there from the very morning. The central square was completely filled with cars, the minister noted:

“Our rescuers arrived on time after the arrival of the rocket and extinguished the epicenter of the explosion. Subsequently, together with the police, they began to provide first aid to citizens.”

This missile strike is not the first and, unfortunately, not the last. It is painful and scary, especially when children suffer. The casualties as a result of the shelling of peaceful cities are not the first and, even more unfortunately, not the last. Why, against the backdrop of this tragedy, a serious scandal erupted, and social networks exploded with angry comments?

As it turned out, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the drama theater in the city center when it was holding a gathering of drone developers, volunteers and aerial reconnaissance training schools as part of the “Furious Birds” demo day. The exact location and time of the event was allegedly known only to the participants in the event.

However, the meeting, as it became known, was announced several days before on the Internet. Because of this, a scandal erupted around this attack – the organizers of the event were accused of unwittingly “leaking” the target for the Russians. In addition, a natural question arises: why was such a meeting held close to the Russian border, where it takes literally a few minutes for missiles to fly up? And in the very center of the city?

Volunteers convince of the precautionary measures taken, and the special services are looking for the culprit of the information leak. The strike was carried out by an Iskander missile, the Ukrainian authorities later said, and the video of the arrival shows that the target was the building of the drama theater, where the event was held, which volunteer Maria Berlinskaya described as follows: “a meeting of engineers, military and volunteers on the topic of military technologies for the front.” Berlinskaya itself specializes in the supply of drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She explains:

“We travel around cities for a reason. We could sit in Kiev and spend every month in Kiev, but it is very important to travel to different cities so that local authorities are interested, so that local producers see that they are involved in this process. with Kharkiv, it is also important to demonstrate that we are not afraid.”

She, too, was inside the theatre, and after the announcement of the alarm went down to the shelter, like many others. But there were people who went into the street – apparently, they suffered. The commander of the special division of shock drones “Biliy eagle”, who was present at the meeting, says:

“It was the beginning of the event. The host just introduced and told what the event would be like, spoke about the security measures, we sang the anthem, and the moment of silence was just ending when we began to hear the air raid signal. The organizers asked everyone to go down to the bomb shelter. Most of the people went there, and I had to go up to the second floor, I was looking for my friend, but I didn’t find him. And as soon as I went down to the first floor, at that moment there was a point impact, many people fell to the floor. It was a shock. The blow was very serious ” .

He says there were more than 200 people inside. But they were saved by the fact that almost everyone went to the shelter as soon as the air raid alert was announced:

“The overlap of the building itself saved us. There was and will be a very massive drama theater. After the impact, we began to help the rest of the people go down to the bomb shelter. There were, I think, 200 or more people inside, if with the police and the security service, there were also civilians and military inside” .

Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets says:

“Because of the blast wave, a fire broke out in the premises of the economic court and the building of the Chernihiv police department was damaged. Shops, cafes and other buildings on neighboring streets were damaged. There is a public transport stop nearby, a regular bus stopped on it for boarding and disembarking passengers. Unfortunately, many victims are precisely in this place. It was always crowded in the central part of the city on a weekend.”

The streets in the city center are littered with glass and rubble. Eyewitnesses say that the blast wave was so powerful that the windows flew out even in those buildings that are far from the epicenter of the explosion. And again the same question pops up: why did such a meeting take place so close to the Russian border and in the historical center of Chernigov, where there are many civilians?

The announcement of the meeting on drones in Chernihiv was published on August 14 by the organization Victory Drones, which includes the well-known volunteer Maria Berlinskaya (by the way, she was named among the candidates for the post of the new Minister of Defense). It was reported that the event would take place on August 19 at 10 am with the support of the regional military administration. The place of collection was not reported. To get to the event, it was necessary to fill out a special form and then receive a personal invitation.

According to Berlinskaya, all those who applied for participation in the exhibition were checked. Now their data is being studied by law enforcement agencies. Previously, similar meetings were held in many Ukrainian cities – Kyiv, Lvov, Kharkov, Dnipro. They gather representatives of the military, aviation schools, manufacturers and businesses.

The organizers say that the place of the meeting was not announced in open sources. Interestingly, the Russian media also published, as they claim, the announcement of the exhibition of drones – but already from a closed mailing list for participants. Where it says that the location of the event will be announced at 6 am on the day of the meeting.

It seems that one of the participants simply “leaked” the data to the Russians. Or they hacked into someone’s mail or instant messengers, where invitations were sent. Of course, there may be other sources of leakage – the volunteers claim that, for example, the OVA officials were in the know, with whom the event was coordinated.

According to the head of the IVA, Chaus, he knows that “all relevant permits have been obtained.” At the same time, the city council stated that they did not know about the exhibition and did not give permission for it. Interior Minister Klymenko said that now the SBU is opening criminal proceedings to investigate the event.

And although the conspiracy was formally observed, there are complaints against the organizers. In the comments under the announcement of the exhibition of drones, a wave of hate arose – due to the holding of a military exhibition at a strike distance of Iskanders:

“Damn @ you and the killers.”

“Morons, because of you it got to the city center.”

“And how did you invite you, stupid goat?”

“It’s just absurd, how is it possible?”.

A lot of negative comments under the post of the organizer of the exhibition, Maria Berlinskaya, who rejects the accusations against her:

“What genius came up with the idea to hold this forum 70 km from k…pov? Are you conscious at all or have you completely lost touch with reality?”

“What was the need to do this event in Chernihiv, where can you fly in a few minutes?”

Later, the Russian edition of RIA Novosti, as well as other Russian media, reported that the purpose of the strike in Chernihiv was “the gathering of military specialists of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in combat drones.”

United States Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink condemned the Aug. 19 missile attack on Chernihiv, saying that such strikes were indicative of the depth to which Russia had sunk: “Terrible news of today’s shelling of the historic center of Chernihiv. Innocent men, women and children who enjoyed a wonderful Saturday – a holiday in Ukraine – should never have been killed or injured.”

Head of the regional military administration of the Chernihiv region Vyacheslav Chaus informed on the morning of August 20, that the number of victims of a ballistic missile attack on Chernihiv increased to 148:

“The enemy killed seven people yesterday and another 148 people sought medical help or were taken to hospitals wounded. As of 6:20 am, 41 people remain in hospitals in the city of Chernihiv. They are receiving all the necessary medical care, 15 people have been operated on.”

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