KYIV — A ferocious Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv killed at least five people and set off a major fire the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, one of the holiest sites in Eastern Orthodoxy, local officials said Monday.
Russian forces fired some 60 missiles and scores of drones during the overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital, which injured at least 30 other people.
Overall, some 70 missiles and 611 drones pummeled the country, including in the cities of Kharkiv and Dnipro, causing extensive damage and injuring scores more, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
Zelensky called the assault on the Lavra “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.” The monastery, which dates back nearly 1,000 years, houses extensive catacombs where Orthodox saints are buried.
A Shahed drone struck the roof of the Dormition Cathedral, setting off the fire. It also damaged other structures at the monastery, which covers a large area overlooking the Dnipro River in the center of Kyiv, a statement on the Lavra’s Facebook page said.
There were no injuries at the complex, and “sacred works … were evacuated,” the statement said.
UNESCO, the U.N.’s world heritage agency, designated the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, for its World Heritage List in 1990, calling it “one of the most important Christian pilgrimage centers in the world.”
In 2023, UNESCO said the monastery was “in danger” because of the war with Russia. In a statement on Monday, the agency condemned the Russian attack, calling the site “one of Ukraine’s most significant spiritual and cultural landmarks.”
Zelensky visited the Lavra on Monday morning and vowed retaliation for the attack, local media reported. Photos showed extensive damage to the cathedral roof.
In Kyiv, Monday’s attack set off fires and damage in “nearly all regions of the city” and left some 140,000 people with electricity, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko posted on social media.
In Kharkiv, a second strike killed at least five emergency workers as “as they were putting out a fire at the site of an earlier strike on an industrial facility,” Zelensky said, adding that an additional nine people were injured there.
In the city of Dnipro, “Russia struck the grounds of a railway station, a college, and several enterprises,” Zelensky said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the bombardment was “a massive strike using precision weapons” on sites connected to Ukraine’s military industry, and was carried out in response to Ukrainian “terrorist acts.”
In recent weeks, Ukrainian midrange and long-range weapons systems have wreaked extensive damage on Russian logistics lines and on sites deep inside of Russia — focusing on military and energy installations.
In its most recent attack, Kyiv forces struck an oil facility in Russia’s Yaroslavl region more than 400 miles from the Ukrainian border and an explosives plant in Tula, more 300 miles from the border, Zelensky said on Sunday.
The Russian Defense Ministry alleged that damage to the Lavra was caused by a “missile fired from a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system,” but the ministry did not provide further details.
However, Ukraine’s security service posted on photos on the Telegram messaging app showing what it said was debris found at the Lavra site of a Russian Geran-2 drone ― “the Russian version of the Iranian Shahed type kamikaze drone.”
Natalia Abbakumova contributed to this report from Riga, Latvia.
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