Sharjah24 - AFP: The mayor of Chernigiv, a city in northern Ukraine, reported on Wednesday that at least five people had died as a result of Moscow's most recent aerial attack on the country.

The region, which borders Belarus to the north, was occupied at the beginning of Russia's invasion but has been spared fierce fighting for around two years since Moscow's army withdrew.

Mayor Oleksandr Lomako told state media that the strike had ripped into a "very populated area" of the city.

"There has been a direct hit on a civilian infrastructural building," Lomako said on social media.

"Unfortunately, we already know about five dead. The search operation is still ongoing," he added.

The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Chaus, said the strikes had hit near the centre of Chernigiv city and that rescue teams were working on the scene.

Chernigiv city lies some 145 kilometres (90 miles) north of Ukraine's capital Kyiv and had a pre-war population of around 285,000 people.

It was badly damaged when Russian tanks swept into Ukraine from Belarusian territory in February 2022.

Ukraine has been appealing to its allies abroad to supply it with more sophisticated air defence systems to ward off systematic Russian strikes on key infrastructure.