Ukrainian officials said Russia fired 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight, killing at least 11 people, wounding dozens and setting fire to part of the historic Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery complex.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Russia launched one of its largest overnight aerial attacks on Ukraine, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at major cities in a barrage that killed at least 11 people, wounded dozens more and damaged a landmark religious site in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes killed civilians and emergency workers and wounded 53 people across the country. The attack targeted Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro and other areas, according to Ukrainian officials, and came one day after Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke separately by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The separate calls suggested Washington is continuing diplomatic efforts to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The conflict is also expected to be discussed Tuesday at a G7 summit in France, where Zelenskyy and Trump are both scheduled to attend.
Zelenskyy has been seeking to keep Ukraine at the center of international attention as the war involving Iran draws focus elsewhere.
“This is how Russia shows the world its intention to continue the war,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X, referring to the overnight bombardment.
“It is very important that there be a response from the G7 countries … and that this response be decisive and substantive; more pressure on the aggressor and more support for Ukraine’s air defense, especially anti-ballistic capabilities,” he said.
Kyiv was among the hardest-hit areas. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said five people were killed in the capital. Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s Military Administration, said at least 30 others were wounded there, including two children ages 5 and 6.
Residents in Kyiv heard a series of powerful explosions as waves of ballistic missiles and Shahed drones moved over the city. Many people took shelter underground while black smoke rose above the capital.
Tkachenko said five strikes hit civilian locations in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district within less than 30 minutes. The damaged sites included a 25-story apartment building, while a market and grocery store caught fire. In the Obolonskyi district, a nine-story residential building was directly hit.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its strikes were aimed at defense and industrial facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro, including enterprises and workshops producing components for long-range drones and cruise missiles. Moscow said one target was a workshop producing medium- and long-range drones on the grounds of the Dovzhenko film studios in Kyiv.
Russia also claimed it struck Kyiv’s Radar plant, which it said produces drone components, as well as the Mayak plant, which it said manufactures Ukraine’s Flamingo long-range cruise missiles. Moscow said military conscription offices in Kyiv were also hit.
Ukrainian officials did not immediately provide information about the 11th person killed in the attacks.
The bombardment also damaged the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, an 11th-century monastery complex and one of Ukraine’s most important religious landmarks.
Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said the roof of the complex’s Dormition Cathedral caught fire during the strike. He condemned the attack as another Russian crime “against humanity, against history, against Christianity” and called for prayers to save the site.
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also called the Monastery of the Caves, includes monasteries, churches and underground religious spaces built from the 11th through the 19th centuries. The UNESCO-listed World Heritage site contains churches connected by a network of caves stretching more than 600 meters, or about 2,000 feet.
Zelenskyy said two Russian drones caused the damage and called the strike Russia’s “biggest crime yet against Christian culture.” He visited the site Monday morning with Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and other government officials.
The cathedral, churches and surrounding buildings overlook the right bank of the Dnieper River and have served as a pilgrimage destination for centuries.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot compared the attack on the site to the “equivalent, for us French, of a bombing of Notre Dame,” referring to the Paris cathedral.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the strike strengthened the resolve of Ukraine’s allies to pursue a ceasefire and work toward peace.
“Just as nothing can justify the war of aggression that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years, nothing can justify this attack on our shared universal heritage,” Macron wrote on social media.
Russia’s Defense Ministry denied responsibility for directly striking the religious complex and claimed, without providing evidence, that it was hit by a U.S.-made Patriot air defense missile fired by Ukraine. Moscow said the missile may have gone off course because its shelf life had expired.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight, with Kyiv as the primary target while Dnipro and Kharkiv were also struck. The military said air defenses intercepted or electronically suppressed 632 aerial targets, including 50 missiles and 582 drones.
Preliminary Ukrainian data showed that 20 ballistic missiles and 27 attack drones hit 42 locations nationwide. Debris from intercepted drones fell at 12 sites.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 123 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The latest attack underscored Ukraine’s continued demand for stronger air defenses, especially systems capable of countering ballistic missiles, as Zelenskyy prepares to press G7 leaders for additional support.
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