Chernihiv Mayor: 70% of Chernihiv destroyed, Russian troops 1.5 hours away

Valentyna Romanenko – Sunday, 3 April 2022, 16:31

Seventy per cent of the city of Chernihiv has been destroyed, local businesses are not operating, and the local budget is lacking sources of revenue.

Source: Vladyslav Atroshenko, Mayor of Chernihiv, in the national joint TV broadcast

According to Atroshenko: "This question [about how the city survived the previous night] is exhausting both for me personally and for Chernihiv residents. Because 70% of the city has been destroyed. People no longer want to know how many bombs were dropped…20, 30…Journalists always want to know how many shellings there were and their consequences. The consequences are very serious: just as they are in Bucha, in Kharkiv, and maybe even in Mariupol.

The urgent question for the residents of Chernihiv is their future…

I am worried about the heating season, which right now we cannot sustain. I am worried about estimating our losses…how to do it. I am worried about the lack of revenue in the budget, [local] businesses are not operating. You have to understand – the situation is entirely different in cities not affected by combat action, where businesses continue to be open and budget revenues are coming in as planned…

In cities like Mariupol, Bucha, Chernihiv…so many problems have to be solved."

Details: Atroshenko admitted that the relative calm today scares him as much as the airstrikes, because the city has to be rebuilt, but the enemy can return at any moment. (According to the Mayor, Russian troops are only 1.5 hours away from Chernihiv now.)

At the same time, Atroshenko noted that the withdrawal of the remaining troops of the occupying forces and the defining events that are currently taking place across the whole region are "wonderful."