The Ukrainian city of Chernihiv has been about 70% destroyed by Russian forces, according to a statement by Vladyslav Atroshenko, the city’s mayor, on Sunday.

The “consequences” of Russia’s attacks in the city are “severe”, much like the present situation in several Ukrainian cities including Bucha, where corpses of civilians were found scattered on the streets. 

Residents of Chernihiv are now facing a “concentration of Russian troops on the Belarusian border,”, and the fear of more Russian airstrikes looming over their heads.  

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“Russians move around Ukraine like at home. And the fact that they left does not mean that they will not come back tomorrow. It takes about an hour and a half for them to get to us … Today we can say it is quiet, there is cleaning, there is demining,” he said.

On Tuesday, Chernihiv and several other Ukrainian cities were bombarded just hours after Russia pledged to de-escalate its military operations in order to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.”

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Soon after the dubious announcement, several Ukrainian officials reported Russian shelling that destroyed homes, libraries and stores in and around Chernihiv.

Olexander Lomako, secretary of the Chernihiv city council, said that Russia’s pledge turned out to be “a complete lie.”

“At night they didn’t decrease, but vice versa increased the intensity of military action,” Lomako said.

Earlier, Russian deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin had said, “In order to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing and signing (an) agreement, a decision was made to radically, by a large margin, reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions.”