Kyiv – Russia fired a barrage of missiles at several major Ukrainian cities, setting Kyiv’s historic Dormition Cathedral on fire and killing eleven, while Ukraine strikes claimed three lives in a city south of Moscow.
AFP journalists across Kyiv witnessed residents running through the streets seeking shelter throughout the night as projectiles were intercepted in the sky and glowing debris fell across the city.
In response to the assault Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for more pressure on Moscow from G7 leaders, who were gathering at a summit in France set to be dominated by the US-Iranian deal to end the Middle East war.
Five rescue workers were killed during firefighting operations in northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on Monday.
The violence killed another five people and wounded 25 in the capital as fire broke out on the grounds of the UNESCO world heritage site Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the roof of the Dormition Cathedral was on fire.
One more person was killed in the frontline southeastern city of Kherson.
The Russian army said the Lavra was hit by an outdated US Patriot air defence missile.
Ukraine’s air force said Moscow had launched 70 missiles and 611 drones, mainly targeting the capital, adding that Ukrainian air defence units had downed 50 missiles and 582 drones.
Russia’s military said it had carried out a “massive strike” on Ukrainian military sites in the capital Kyiv, as well as Kharkiv and Dnipro regions.
More than a dozen fire trucks surrounded the cathedral in Kyiv, with firefighters working tirelessly to extinguish the blaze from the inside and from aerial platforms, an AFP journalist saw.
A gaping hole could be seen on one side of the church, with flames visible from the roof which has been partially destroyed.
The fire had been put out by the morning, Zelensky said.
“This is one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date,” he said.
He called for G7 leaders, meeting for a summit in France, to give a “decisive and substantive” response to the attacks: “more pressure on the aggressor and more support for Ukraine’s air defence, especially anti-ballistic capabilities.”
– ‘Against Christianity –
A building in the capital’s Mystetsky Arsenal National Art and Museum Complex also caught fire, according to Ukraine’s emergency service.
Russian attacks damaged several buildings in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra complex in January, the Ministry of Culture reported at the time.
The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, a monastery with emblematic golden domes, had made headlines in recent years after the expulsion of its monks, who were accused of having ties with Moscow.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine officially broke away from Russia in 2022 and two years later the Ukrainian government went so far as to ban the Ukraine branch of the Orthodox Church linked to Moscow.
Institutionally, the Russian Orthodox Church has stood full-square behind President Vladimir Putin since he launched Russia’s offensive on Ukraine in 2022.
Head of the local military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, condemned the “direct strike” on the site.
Kyiv’s Metropolitan Epiphanius also denounced the attack as a “crime against humanity, history and Christianity.”
– ‘Bring about peace’ –
The major city of Kharkiv, in the northeast, also came under missile attack.
“Five State Emergency Service rescuers were killed during firefighting operations as a result of a repeated Russian strike,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on Telegram. At least nine people were also injured.
Two people were injured in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and three were wounded in the Sumy region, local authorities said.
A Ukrainian drone strike killed three people and wounded three others in the Russian city of Tula, around 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Moscow, the regional governor Dmitry Milyaev said on Monday.
Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin both called their US counterpart Donald Trump on Sunday to discuss the conflict in Ukraine.
Zelensky said on X that he had “discussed things that could help bring about peace now,” while his adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told the press he was pleased with a “quite substantive conversation about everything” between the leaders.
The Kremlin, for its part, said that the conversation between Putin and Trump focused on peace negotiations with the United States and Iran.
Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov told the press that “US presidential special representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are currently closely involved in Iranian affairs, will return to Russia soon”.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned into Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, with thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of troops killed.
Amid near-daily pummelling of its cities by Russian drones and missiles, Ukraine has in recent weeks stepped up its own aerial attacks, which it says mostly target Russia’s oil infrastructure to sap its profits that fund the war.
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Source: AFP
