Ukraine’s northern city of Chernihiv where corpses in the street and smashed houses are now commonplace will become next Mariupol, locals say

• There are fears Chernihiv could become the next Mariupol after heavy air strikes
• The city has no power, drinking water or heating and is surrounded by Russians 
• One local said the sight of ‘corpses in the street’ was no longer a surprise 

There are fears that the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, which has been holding out against Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, could become the next Mariupol.

The city is close to the border with Belarus and on the road to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv but is surrounded by Russian forces, with residents unable to flee.

People living in the city have no power, heating or drinking water and have faced heavy Russian bombardment. 

Natalya Vakula, 44, and Nastya Kuzyk, 20, were both injured in the heavy strikes on Chernihiv but were able to flee to a hospital in Kyiv. 

Smoke rises out of an apartments building damaged by shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine

Natalya Vakula, 44, gestures in a hospital in Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv, while recovering from injuries to her leg after a Russian attack in Chernihiv, Saturday, March 26

Nastya Kuzyk, 20, is comforted by her mother Svitlana, 50, while recovering in a hospital from the injuries caused after a Russian attack in her home of Chernihiv

An unexploded ordnance on the floor of an apartment in the northern city of Chernihiv on March 25. Chernihiv mayor said the city was ‘destroyed completely’

An unexploded bomb landed in an apartment in Chernihiv on March 25 during the bombardment of the city

At pharmacies, the lists of medicines no longer available grow longer every day. 

Ihar Kazmerchak, 38, a linguistics student in Chernihiv, said people were afraid the city could become the next Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian troops for three weeks. 

He said: ‘Ravaged houses, fires, corpses in the street, [and] huge bombs are not surprising anyone any more.

A fire truck parked in front of an apartments building damaged by shelling in Chernihiv

The central stadium is seen damaged by shelling in Chernihiv in mid-March after heavy shelling

A satellite image shows an overview of burning oil storage tanks and an industrial area in Chernihiv

Market buildings damaged by shelling, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Chernihiv

There are fears that the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, which has been holding out against Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, could become the next Mariupol. Pictured: A public library was damaged by shelling in Chernihiv

The city is close to the border with Belarus and on the road to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv but is surrounded by Russian forces, with residents unable to flee

‘Food is running out and shelling and bombing doesn’t stop.’ 

He said he starts his day in long queues for drinking water, rationed to 10 litres per person.  

On Wednesday, Russian bombs destroyed Chernihiv’s main bridge over the Desna River on the road leading to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. 

Ukrainian forces have hit back at Russia in Chernihiv. Troops destroyed a Russian cargo truck (pictured) that was allegedly carrying thermobaric rockets, which can supposedly melt people’s organs 

People living in the city have no power, heating or drinking water and have faced heavy Russian bombardment. Chernihiv is north of Kyiv but in surrounded by Russian forces, with people living there worried it could become the next Mariupol

The southern city of Mariupol (pictured today) has been under bombardment for three weeks 

On Friday, artillery shells rendered the remaining pedestrian bridge impassable, cutting off the last possible route for people to get out or for food and medical supplies to get in.

Refugees from Chernihiv who fled the encirclement and reached Poland this week spoke of broad and terrible destruction, with bombs flattening at least two schools in the city centre and strikes also hitting a stadium, museums, nursery schools and homes.

They said people are drinking water from the Desna River and air strikes were killing people while they wait in line for food. 

An apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, on March 25

A number of ceasefires were organised to allow civilians to flee the city but many of the periods of peace were broken

Bombings of hospitals and other non-military sites have given rise to war crime allegations against Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Fedorovych, 77, said he narrowly escaped a bomb that fell on a queue of people waiting for bread.

He said the blast killed 16 people and injured dozens, blowing off people’s arms and legs.

The siege is so intense some of those trapped cannot even muster the strength to be afraid anymore, Mr Kazmerchak said.

‘People are simply tired of being scared and don’t even go down to the basements,’ he said.

The city’s mayor, Vladyslav Atroshenko, said on Saturday the ‘whole city is destroyed completely’.

He said: ‘For us it’s easier for us to count which buildings have not been damaged.  

‘Residential buildings, schools, hospitals, children’s libraries have been bombed. 

‘There have been mass killings by mines or artillery that has hit a line of innocent civilians who are waiting in line to buy bread, to buy some food. What sort of military structure is that? It’s just a food shop.’

He said he was collecting people’s testimonies of the bombings to use against Russia in international courts.

‘Russia has been consciously committing crimes,’ he said. ‘The Russians have been consciously shelling on peaceful civilians for several weeks. 

‘They have been killing peaceful citizens.’ 

He added Western countries that continued to buy Russian energy ‘sponsor our shelling, they sponsor the killing of our population’.

Just over a month into the invasion, Russia’s attack has slowed into a grinding war of attrition as its military tries to pound cities like Chernihiv into submission.

The aftermath of Russia army bombardment on the children hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, which stunned and appalled the world

Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry the injured pregnant woman from the maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol on March 9. Both she and her unborn baby later died

Ukrainian servicemen and firefighters stand in the area outside of a maternity hospital damaged in a shelling attack in Mariupol on March 9

A woman walks past building obliterated by Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Sunday, March 13

A second piece of footage shows a string of high-rise buildings burning next to a row of charred structures that appear to have already been hit by Russian missile strikes in Moscow’s relentless bombardment of the city 

Residents sit on a bench near an apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Bombings of hospitals and other non-military sites, such as the Mariupol theatre where Ukrainian officials said a Russian air strike is believed to have killed some 300 people last week, have given rise to war crime allegations.

Questions about the future direction of Russia’s offensive surfaced on Friday when a high-ranking military official said the main objective of the first stage of the operation – reducing Ukraine’s fighting capacity – had ‘generally been accomplished’.

Donbas is a largely Russian-speaking region in eastern Ukraine where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. 

A spokesperson for Mariupol City Hall in a Telegram post said: ‘From eyewitnesses, information appeared that about 300 people died in the Drama Theater of Mariupol’

This satellite image illustrates what the Mariupol theatre looked like before it was reduced to rubble by Russian shelling

New satellite images show the collapsed remains of Mariupol theatre which was sheltering hundreds of children and their families before being levelled in a Russian airstrike

Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said Russian forces could now focus on ‘the main goal, the liberation of Donbas’.

However, Ukraine said any Russian suggestion it is retreating from Kyiv to focus on Donbas did not seem to be true.

Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, said: ‘Take into account there is a huge amount of misinformation coming from the Russian Federation. We cannot trust them.’

He added: ‘At the moment we don’t see any withdrawal of Russian troops. We can’t reduce the defence capacity of Kyiv.’ 

Chernihiv, which is north of Kyiv, is surrounded by Russian troops. The city’s mayor, Vladyslav Atroshenko (pictured), said on Saturday the ‘whole city is destroyed completely’ (File image)

Chernihiv city mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky pictured together in 2020, before Putin’s army invaded Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, appearing by video-link at Qatar’s Doha Forum, compared the destruction of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo.

‘They are destroying our ports,’ Mr Zelensky said. ‘The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.’

He called on countries to increase their exports of energy to give European nations an alternative to Russian oil and gas.

‘The future of Europe rests with your efforts,’ he said. 

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