Kyiv: Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s biggest cities in a nighttime bombardment that killed at least 11 people and set fire to a renowned religious site, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials said Monday.
The attacks on the capital, Kyiv, and the second-largest city, Kharkiv, came after Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke separately by phone with US President Donald Trump on Sunday. The exchange suggests Washington hasn’t given up on its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting that followed Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
Amongst 11 civilians five were killed in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, where at least 30 others were also wounded, including two children aged 5 and 6, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s Military Administration.
A series of powerful explosions were heard across Kyiv, with a wave of ballistic missiles followed by Shahed drones as many people sought shelter underground. Clouds of black smoke drifted over the city.
Five strikes hit civilian sites in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district in less than 30 minutes, Tkachenko said, including a 25-story apartment building, while a market and a grocery store caught fire. In the Obolonskyi district, a nine-story residential building took a direct hit.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the strikes targeted defence and industrial facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro.
There was no immediate information about the 11th person killed in the attacks.
In Kyiv, the bombardment damaged the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, an 11th-century monastic complex and a religious landmark.
The roof of the complex’s Dormition Cathedral caught fire during the attack, said Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He condemned the strike as another Russian crime “against humanity, against history, against Christianity” and appealed for prayers to save the site.
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a sprawling complex of monasteries and churches, including some underground, built between the 11th and 19th centuries. Some of the churches at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site are connected by a labyrinthine complex of caves spanning more than 600 metres (2,000 feet).
Zelenskyy said the damage was caused by two Russian drones and called the attack Russia’s “biggest crime yet against Christian culture.” He visited the scene on Monday morning together with Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and other members of his government.
The cathedral, churches and other buildings overlook the right bank of the Dnieper River and have been a pilgrimage site for centuries.
