Russian barrages on Ukraine’s biggest cities kill at least 11, damage historic cathedral

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s biggest cities in a nighttime bombardment that killed at least 11 people and set fire to a renowned religious site, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials said Monday.

The attacks on the capital, Kyiv, and the second-largest city, Kharkiv, came after Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke separately by phone with US President Donald Trump on Sunday.

The exchange suggests Washington hasn’t given up on its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting that followed Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

The war in Ukraine is also set to feature in talks on Tuesday among G7 leaders at a summit in France.

Zelensky and Trump are due to attend the gathering, as Ukraine’s president pushes to keep the war on leaders’ minds while the Iran war diverts international attention from Ukraine’s plight.

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“This is how Russia shows the world its intention to continue the war,” Zelensky said in a post on X referring to the overnight attack, which damaged a historic religious site in Kyiv.

“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,” the Ukrainian leader said.

Children among the injured in Kyiv

The overnight assault by Russia involved hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles.

The barrage killed five people in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

At least 30 people were injured, including two children aged 5 and 6, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s Military Administration.

A series of powerful explosions were heard across Kyiv, with a wave of ballistic missiles followed by Shahed drones as many people sought shelter underground and officials urged residents to take cover. Clouds of black smoke drifted over the city.

Five strikes hit civilian sites in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district in less than 30 minutes, Tkachenko said, including a 25-story apartment building, while a market and a grocery store caught fire. In the Obolonskyi district, a nine-story residential building took a direct hit.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that the strikes targeted defense and industrial facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro, including enterprises and workshops producing components for long-range drones and cruise missiles. It said that a workshop producing medium- and long-range drones located on the premises of the Dovzhenko film studios in Kyiv was among the targets hit.

Russia also claimed to have hit Kyiv’s Radar plant, which it said makes drone components, and the Mayak plant that it said makes Ukraine’s Flamingo long-range cruise missiles. Military conscription offices in Kyiv were also struck, it said.

Authorities in the northeastern city of Kharkiv said Russian forces used a “double tap” tactic, launching four additional drone strikes after emergency crews arrived at the scene of an earlier attack.

Four emergency service workers and an employee of the Kharkiv City Council’s emergency department were killed, while six rescuers and three civilians were injured, local officials said.

Religious site damaged in attack

In Kyiv, the bombardment damaged the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, an 11th-century monastic complex and a religious landmark.

The roof of the complex’s Dormition Cathedral caught fire during the attack, said Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He condemned the strike as another Russian crime “against humanity, against history, against Christianity” and appealed for prayers to save the site.

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a sprawling complex of monasteries and churches, including some underground, built between the 11th and 19th centuries. Some of the churches at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site are connected by a labyrinthine complex of caves spanning more than 600 meters (2,000 feet).

Zelensky called the attack Russia’s “biggest crime yet against Christian culture” and reportedly visited the scene on Monday morning together with Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.

The cathedral, churches and other buildings overlook the right bank of the Dnieper River and have been a pilgrimage site for centuries.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the attack was the “equivalent, for us French, of a bombing of Notre Dame,” referring to the Paris cathedral.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the attack only strengthened the determination 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 claimed without offering evidence that the complex was hit by one of Ukraine’s US-made Patriot air defense missiles, saying that it might have veered off course because its shelf life had expired.

Russia fires more than 600 drones at Ukraine

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight, primarily targeting Kyiv, while also striking the cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv.

The military said air defenses intercepted or electronically suppressed 632 aerial targets, including 50 missiles and 582 drones.

Preliminary data showed 20 ballistic missiles and 27 attack drones hit 42 locations across the country, while debris from intercepted drones fell at 12 sites.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 123 Ukrainian drones overnight.