Russia’s Overnight Barrage Hits Kyiv Monastery and Kills at Least Nine in Ukraine

Russia launched a massive overnight attack on Ukrainian cities between Sunday and Monday, killing five rescue workers in Kharkiv and four people in Kyiv, according to local authorities. In the capital, around 30 more people were injured, several residential towers were damaged, and 140,000 residents were left without electricity after infrastructure was hit.

One of the most serious strikes landed on Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the 1,000-year-old cave monastery complex in Kyiv known as the Monastery of the Caves and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Ukrainian military said Russia fired 70 missiles and 611 drones, of which air defenses intercepted 50 missiles and 582 drones. Flames were seen at the site, and church officials said the roof of the “Cathedral of the Dormition” caught fire.

Epifaniy I, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, condemned the strike as another Russian crime “against humanity, against history and against Christianity,” and said, “What else does the anti-Christ Kremlin need to do so that the world understands that decisive action must be taken to stop Russian terror against Ukraine and against the values of peace themselves?” Kyiv regional military governor Tymur Tkachenko called the damage “a deliberate decision” by Moscow and said it was an attack on “the heart of one of the greatest shrines of Christianity.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the strike as “one of the most serious crimes of Russia against Christian culture” and urged the West to intensify sanctions and pressure on Moscow. He also called on G7 leaders, meeting in France with Donald Trump expected to attend, to provide stronger air defenses and more anti-missile capabilities. Russia said it had carried out a “massive” attack on military-industrial and air base targets in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro, insisting all strikes succeeded. The attack came hours after Trump spoke separately with Vladimir Putin and Zelensky on his 80th birthday, while the war entered its fifth year with ceasefire talks still deadlocked.