Iconic Kiev monastery engulfed in fire during deadly Russian attacks

2026-06-15 16:15:01, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russia has struck the UNESCO-protected Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra complex, Ukraine's most important Orthodox monastery, in a massive overnight missile and drone attack, killing at least 11 people across Ukraine.

The attacks came just hours after US President Donald Trump held a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and stressed his desire to help end the war.

The attacks set part of the historic monastery complex ablaze and injured at least 13 people at the scene. Authorities reported extensive damage across Kiev in one of the heaviest Russian airstrikes since the start of the war.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched a barrage of 70 missiles and 611 drones against Ukraine overnight, mainly targeting the capital Kiev. The cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv were also hit.

"This is how Russia shows the world its intention to continue the war," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter after the Russian attacks.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Russian attacks killed five rescue workers and wounded at least five others in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, which is located in the country's northeast.

"In Kharkiv, five rescuers of the State Emergency Service were killed while fighting fires caused by repeated Russian attacks. At least five others were injured," Klymenko wrote on Telegram.

Authorities also said six people, including a baby, were injured in a fire at the Kharkiv Art Museum as a result of a Russian airstrike.

"A localized fire has broken out in the art museum building, covering an area of ??1,200 square meters. Work is underway to finally extinguish it," Ukrainian emergency service authorities announced.

Among the buildings hit in Kiev was the main cathedral of the historic Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves) complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where firefighters continued to battle the blaze in the early hours of Monday.

"A brutal attack on our people and our heritage. This is the true face of Russia's Orthodox values," Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on the X platform.

More than a dozen fire engines were seen near the monastery during the morning, as firefighters worked to put out the blaze from both inside the building and from outside platforms, an AFP journalist at the scene reported.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine's most important Orthodox monastery, calling it "state barbarism."

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas condemned the attack on Ukrainian civilians and the centuries-old Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, saying "these are war crimes and Russia will have to answer for them."

Meanwhile, Russian state media quoted the country's Defense Ministry, which claimed that the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery was hit by a Patriot missile system supplied to Kiev by the US, as a result of a defect or expired missiles provided by Western countries.

Later in the day, the Secret Service of Ukraine (SBU) released a statement saying that Russia had struck the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra with a Geran-2 drone, which is the Russian version of the Iranian Shahed-type kamikaze drone.

The agency also released photos of what it said were the remains of the suspected drone.

"Security Service investigators have classified the attack as a war crime and have already opened criminal proceedings," she added.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the "massive" overnight attack caused damage and fires in almost all districts of the capital. Authorities said four people were killed and at least 25 others were injured, including children.

The State Emergency Service also reported that after the attack a fire broke out in the National Complex of the Museum of Art and Culture “Mystetskiy Arsenal” in Kiev, Ukraine's main cultural institution, covering an area of ??about 1,000 square meters.

Russia also hit the Dovzhenko National Film Studios, one of the oldest film studios in Ukraine, founded in 1927 in Kiev, Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna announced on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Kiev has continued its recently intensified attacks against Russia's industrial targets and energy infrastructure, in an attempt to deny the Kremlin the financial resources it is using to finance its war against Ukraine.

Regional governor Dmitry Milyayev announced on Telegram that three people were killed and three others were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Tula, about 200 kilometers south of Moscow.

It is not clear which facilities were hit, but the Tula region is home to some of Russia's largest industrial facilities and has been a frequent target of Ukrainian attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Also, in the early hours of Monday, the authorities installed by the Kremlin in the occupied areas of the Ukrainian region of Kherson declared that Ukrainian attacks had damaged two bridges and that traffic had been suspended./rel