Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv overnight, damaging the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, an 11th-century monastery complex and UNESCO World Heritage site, killing at least five people and injuring 28, ABC News reported on June 15.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 60 missiles at the capital. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones into Ukraine overnight in total, with 50 missiles and 582 drones shot down or otherwise suppressed. Twenty ballistic missiles and 27 drones struck across 42 locations.
The roof of the cathedral caught fire during the attack, according to Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, who said it was caused by two Russian drones. Zelenskyy said emergency responders extinguished the blaze.
The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a sprawling complex of monasteries and churches built between the 11th and 19th centuries, with some structures connected by a network of caves spanning more than 600 metres. The site has been a pilgrimage destination for centuries.
UNESCO, the United Nations’ world heritage agency, condemned the attack. Russia said it had bombed military targets.
Zelenskyy called the attack Moscow’s “biggest crime yet against Christian culture.” — PBS News, June 16 Metropolitan Epiphanius condemned the strike as a Russian crime “against humanity, against history, against Christianity.” — PBS News, June 16
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the strikes deliberate attacks on humanity’s shared cultural heritage and urged the use of international legal mechanisms in response. Sybiha separately described the attack as “barbaric.” — ABC News, June 15
The site was added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger in 2023, alongside the historic centre of Lviv, due to the threat posed by the Russian invasion. UNESCO has previously said similar strikes on Ukrainian cultural heritage “may amount to a war crime” under the 1954 Hague Convention and the 1972 World Heritage Convention.