Zelensky: Strike on Kyiv Pechersk Lavra was deliberate Russian drone attack
Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine, hitting the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and other sites. President Zelensky emphasized the attack was intentional.
Russia carried out a massive overnight attack on Ukraine, using dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones. The main target was the capital, Kyiv, where the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra – a UNESCO World Heritage site – and the Dovzhenko Film Studio were hit. Fires also broke out in residential areas of Kyiv, killing at least five people and injuring dozens.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said an enemy drone struck the center of the cathedral roof, and firefighters are working to prevent the fire from spreading. About 800 square meters of the cathedral and 1,000 square meters of the Mystetskyi Arsenal museum complex were engulfed in flames. Rescuers and staff evacuated 10th-11th century icons and other valuables from the burning buildings.
Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv denounced the attack as monstrous, stating that the enemy has nothing sacred – the Lavra is important not only for Ukrainians but for the entire Orthodox world. Maksym Ostapenko, director of the Lavra reserve, noted severe damage to the upper parts of the cathedral, threatening interior frescoes and the iconostasis.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, arriving at the Lavra in the morning, declared that it was a deliberate drone attack by Russia – two targeted strikes. He added that Putin first cynically congratulated the U.S. president on his birthday, then launched a massive attack. The Dovzhenko Film Studio was also hit, with a costume workshop housing the largest and oldest collection of costumes in Ukraine burned down. In Dnipro, the House of Organ and Chamber Music was damaged, and in Kharkiv, the art museum had previously been set on fire.
Since the start of the war, Russian attacks have damaged or destroyed over 1,600 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine.
