At least 11 people were killed during a wave of Russian attacks across Ukraine that badly damaged the 11th-century Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials. Four deaths were reported in the capital, while five rescue workers were killed while responding to a strike-related fire in Kharkiv.
The cathedral, part of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastic complex, was set ablaze and left with a large opening in one wall and a partly destroyed roof. Firefighters later extinguished the flames. The Lavra is listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site and is among Ukraine’s most important religious and cultural sites.
Zelensky said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said attacks hit several residential buildings, injured at least 23 people and cut electricity to more than 140,000 residents. Zelensky put the number injured nationwide at 53. Air-raid alerts covered most of the country on Monday morning.
Russia denied attacking the cathedral and asserted that a US-made Patriot air-defence missile may have struck it after malfunctioning. It offered no evidence for that explanation, according to the published account. Russia’s military said its large-scale operation targeted Ukrainian military facilities. The competing claims had not been independently resolved in public reporting at that stage.
Zelensky described the cathedral’s destruction as an assault on Christian culture and called for stronger international pressure and more Ukrainian air-defence support, especially anti-ballistic missiles. French President Emmanuel Macron said the damage to shared heritage was unjustifiable, while European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described attacks on the landmark and civilians as war crimes. Unesco condemned the damage and said attacks on cultural institutions deprive communities of spaces important for education, recovery and social cohesion.
The cathedral had previously been damaged during Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in 2022. Ukraine’s culture ministry reported damage to buildings in the Lavra complex in January. Unesco records that the cathedral was almost entirely destroyed during the Second World War apart from its south-eastern tower.
Separately, local Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone attack in Tula, south of Moscow, killed three people and wounded three, including a one-year-old child. That incident underscored the cross-border reach of aerial warfare as leaders prepared for a G7 meeting in France where the conflict was due to be discussed.
The national death count described a wider attack than the cathedral alone. Five fatalities were emergency workers responding in Kharkiv, four occurred in Kyiv and the remaining reported deaths were elsewhere in Ukraine. Keeping those locations distinct avoids implying that all 11 people died at the heritage site or in the capital.
