A 1,000-year-old monastery that symbolises Ukraine’s spiritual and cultural heritage was badly damaged in the heaviest Russian aerial attack on Kyiv in two weeks, authorities said on Monday, and 10 people were killed nationwide in the overnight strikes.
France’s foreign minister said the attack on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, a Unesco World Heritage site founded in 1051, was akin to bombing Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France.
The Russian strikes came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he had discussed with US President Donald Trump efforts to secure an end to the more than four-year conflict ahead of a G7 meeting in France this week.
“A Russian strike on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra set the Dormition Cathedral on fire, a church whose history dates back to the 11th century. This is one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date,” Zelensky said on X.
“This is an attack on our history,” he said later while visiting the damaged monastery, adding, “Of course everything will be restored.”
As flames leapt above the religious compound, Kyiv residents took shelter underground during the worst Russian attack on Ukraine since earlier this month, when drones and missiles killed more than 20 people and left more than 100 wounded.
Russia denied striking the monastery and said it had been damaged by a US-made Patriot air defence missile, but Zelensky said during a visit to the site it had been struck by a Russian drone.
A source familiar with the situation provided Reuters with a photo of what he said was Russian drone debris found near the damaged cathedral building in the Lavra. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the authenticity of the image.
‘KREMLIN ANTICHRIST’
“What more must the Kremlin antichrist do for the world to realise decisive action must be taken so the Russian terror against Ukraine and the very principles of peace come to an end?” Metropolitan Epifaniy, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said on X.
Four people were killed and 34 were injured in the overnight strikes on Kyiv, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the capital’s military administration. Kyiv’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko later said a fifth person had died in hospital from their injuries.
A Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed four emergency service rescuers and a municipal official and injured at least five other people, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
Three people, including a child, were wounded in the northeastern city of Sumy, local authorities said in social media posts.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Tula, an industrial cluster south of Moscow, killed three people and wounded three others, including a one-year-old child, the regional governor said in a Telegram post.
Russia and Ukraine both deny deliberately attacking civilians. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.
Ukraine’s military said Russia had launched 70 missiles and 611 drones against Ukraine overnight and its air defences had shot down 50 missiles and 582 drones.
“Ballistic missiles remain a problem for us,” air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on national television. “Of the 34 ballistic missiles launched, only 15 were shot down, though that is a strong result.”
Neighbouring Poland, an EU and Nato member, scrambled fighter jets on Monday against a possible airspace incursion before recalling the alert and saying no sky violation had been recorded, its armed forces said in a post on X.
EUROPEAN CONDEMNATION
European leaders condemned the attack on the Kyiv monastery.
“This is a Unesco world heritage site, which for us in France is the equivalent of Notre Dame or Saint Denis being bombed,” said French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the attack a “war crime”. French President Emmanuel Macron said G7 leaders meeting in France would discuss how to end the war in Ukraine.
Before Sunday’s conversation with Trump, Zelensky had proposed direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire solution involving the US and Europe, something Britain, Germany and France supported but Putin rebuffed.
Ukraine has recently intensified attacks on Russian industrial and energy facilities as it tries to deprive Moscow of revenues and hasten an end to the war.
Overnight, Ukraine hit two bridges connecting Crimea with Russian-controlled areas. The Black Sea peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014, is grappling with a fuel crisis as a result of Ukrainian attacks that have disrupted supplies.
Reuters