This is the blood-curdling moment a Russian missile narrowly misses a family as it explodes in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.

At least seven people, including a six-year-old girl, have been killed and 117 wounded by the devastating strike which struck a university building and destroyed a theatre roof.

Shocking new footage shows the dramatic moment a family of five innocently crossing the road before a powerful missile lands a matter of feet away from them causing a huge fireball.

A second video shows the horrific moment a missile - claimed to be an Iskander-M - firing through the air at ground level before blasting into a building, causing a spectacular explosion as civilians flee the area.

The city centre attack is among the most brutal of the 19 month long war. Ukrainian officials said police provided first aid to the six-year-old - whose mother is seriously injured - but she had 'a very large loss of blood'. The head of the interior Ministry Ihor Klimenko said 'the doctors could not save her.'

DESTRUCTION: A bloodied man survives the strike on the Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Theatre

The Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Theatre was badly damaged in the Russian attack

This is the blood-curdling moment a Russian missile narrowly misses a family as it explodes in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv

A second video shows the horrific moment a missile - claimed to be an Iskander-M - firing through the air at ground level before blasting into a building

A man sits near the body of a local resident at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Saturday

Amid the devastation and destruction, a man was pictured leaning over a small, lifeless body.

Officials said at least seven people were killed while some 12 children were among the hundreds wounded, acting mayor Oleksandr Lomako said.

Locals had been on their way to church to celebrate a religious holiday - the Orthodox celebration of the Apple Feast of the Saviour - when the city came under fire, the ministry said.

After being liberated from Russian occupation, the city had been largely spared from major attacks as fierce fighting rages in the east and south.

Continuing to provide updates of the strike over Telegram, Klymenko said another of those killed as a woman whose body was discovered amid the rubble.

He also said a 12-year-old girl was urgently taken to Kyiv by ambulance. The minister said she was 'in serious condition'.

'A Russian missile hit right in the centre of the city, in our Chernihiv. A square, the polytechnic university, a theatre,' President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was on a working visit to Sweden, posted on Telegram.

'An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss.'

The Ukrainian president added: 'This is what a neighborhood with a terrorist state is, this is what we unite the whole world against.'

People sweep shattered glass and debris on a street at a restaurant after Russian missile strike

A view of the drama theatre which was damaged in the deadly Russian strike on the Ukrainian city

Firefighters work on a roof of the Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Regional Academic Music and Drama Theatre after it was destroyed in the Russian attack

Visible destruction from the missile strike which has killed at least seven and wounded scores

A view of the damaged apartment after the Russian missile attack on Saturday in Chernihiv

The National Police of Ukraine, firefighters work at the Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Regional Academic Music and Drama Theatre damaged by a Russian attack in Chernihiv

Officials said at least seven people were killed while some 12 children were among those wounded

The city centre attack is among the most brutal of the 19 month long war

Russia claimed it was striking a military target by hitting the city's drama theatre, yet it was clear innocent people not linked to the war were killed

A short video accompanying Zelensky's post showed debris scattered across a square in front of a large Soviet-era building. Parked cars around the theatre were were partially destroyed, with smashed roofs and windows blown out.

One body could also be briefly seen in the video slouched inside a car.

Another video, shared on social media by Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, purported to show the moment a missile struck the top of one of the buildings. A woman was posing in the video as the missile hit.

Fire trucks were seen outside the building as emergency services responded to the strike.

Russia claimed it was striking a military target by hitting the city's drama theatre, yet it was clear innocent people not linked to the war were killed.

The building struck by the missile hosted an exhibition of attack and reconnaissance drones, it was claimed.

'The event was attended exclusively by the military, manufacturers of UAVs and communication systems, schools of operators of large drones and FPV drones, as well as representatives of the media and 'volunteer foundations', reported staunchly pro-Kremlin media outlet Readovka.

'The organisers of the exhibition even asked participants to come in civilian clothes to disguise the gathering as a civilian one.'

Russian state media RIA claimed the drama theatre was hosting an event for military specialists involved with drones named 'Ferocious Birds'.

The centre of Chernihiv has since been closed to allow emergency services to access the area.

An ambulance is pictured near the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv

The roof of the drama theatre was destroyed as the missile came flying over the Ukraine city

People remove damaged windows amid debris on a street at a restaurant in Chernihiv on Saturday

A crashed car at the scene of a missile hit the Drama Theatre in central Chernihiv, Ukraine

Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Regional Academic Music and Drama Theatre is seen damaged by Russian attack in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Saturday

Fire engines rush to the scene in Chernihiv where the missile strike took place

Firefighters work on the roof of the Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Regional Academic Music and Drama Theatre damaged by Russian attack in Chernihiv

A man sits near a covered dead body after Russian attack in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Saturday

Writing on telegram regional Governor Vyacheslav Chaus said the attack was 'probably a ballistic missile.'

Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the front line with missiles and drones as part of its full-scale invasion launched February 2022.

Chernihiv is located close to the Belarus border. It was occupied by Russian forces early in Moscow's assault on Ukraine and later liberated and recaptured by Kyiv's forces.

The city is full of leafy boulevards and centuries-old churches. It is about 145 km (90 miles) north of the capital Kyiv.

The attack on Chernihiv hit after Putin met top Russian generals in a rare trip to the operational hub Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, while Volodymyr Zelensky visited Sweden.

Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the front line with missiles and drones as part of the invasion it launched in February last year.

Kyiv's air force said early on Saturday the Ukrainian military had shot down 15 out of 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Moscow in an overnight strike.

Amid the strike on the Ukrainian city, Russia claimed on Saturday that it had thwarted a Kyiv drone attack on a military airfield in the Novgorod region, an area between Moscow and Saint Petersburg not previously targeted.

'Today at about 10 am Moscow time, the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack using a copter-type drone on a military airfield in the Novgorod region,' the Russian army said in a statement. It said it was shot down 'by small arms'.

An emergency service worker stands at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv

A view shows the site of a Russian missile strike, where five were killed and dozens were wounded

Rescuers are pictured working at the area where a missile hit the Drama Theatre in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Saturday

Hours before the strike, the Kremlin said Putin had travelled to the southern city of Rostov-on-Don to meet his top generals in a rare trip close to fighting zones.

Putin's meeting with Moscow's top military brass came after Kyiv claimed some success on the battlefield this week and a day after the US approved the transfer of Dutch and Danish F-16 warplanes to Kyiv.

Moscow gave no details of when the meeting took place, but footage released by state media indicated it was at night.

'Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operation group in Rostov-on-Don,' the Kremlin said in a statement.

'The head of state listened to briefings by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, commanders of directions and other senior officers of the group.'

A video published by the RIA Novosti news agency showed Putin, wearing a suit, stepping out of a jeep in the dark and being greeted with a handshake by Gerasimov, in military attire.

Gerasimov is seen leading Putin down a corridor decorated with portraits of Russian military men and of the president chairing a meeting with army chiefs.

Rostov-on-Don was also the scene of a dramatic armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries in June, which saw them briefly take over the army HQ in Rostov, before halting their rebellion.

Gerasimov, who Wagner wanted to unseat, has rarely been seen in public since.