Five people were killed and 37 wounded when a Russian missile struck a central square in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

People had been on their way to church to celebrate a religious holiday when the strike took place, the ministry said, adding that 11 of the wounded were children.

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

"An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss," he added.

A short video accompanying Zelenskiy's post showed debris scattered across a square in front of the regional drama theatre, where parked cars were heavily damaged. One body could also be briefly seen in the video slouched inside a car.

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