Russia Strikes Ukraine's Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Largest Overnight Attack, Killing at Least 10

Russia launched one of its largest overnight assaults on Ukraine on Monday, firing 70 missiles and 611 drones at cities including Kyiv and Kharkiv, killing at least 10 people and setting fire to the Dormition Cathedral — an 11th-century religious landmark at the heart of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, "one of the biggest Russian crimes against Christian culture." Photographs by BBC showed a gaping hole in one side of the cathedral and flames visible through its partially destroyed roof. Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, condemned it as a crime "against humanity, against history, against Christianity." The fire was subsequently extinguished.

Strikes hit several residential buildings in the Shevchenkivskyi and Obolonskyi districts, while a market and grocery store caught fire. More than 140,000 residents were left without electricity, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. In Kharkiv, Russian forces used a "double tap" tactic — launching follow-up drone strikes after emergency crews had arrived at the scene of an earlier attack — killing four emergency workers and an employee of the city council's emergency department, with six rescuers and three civilians injured.

Ukraine's air force said defences intercepted or electronically suppressed 632 aerial targets overnight, including 50 missiles and 582 drones, though preliminary data showed 20 ballistic missiles and 27 attack drones still struck 42 locations across the country.

International Condemnation Ahead of G7

According to Daily Journal, Russia's Defence Ministry claimed the strikes targeted defence and industrial facilities, including enterprises producing drone components and long-range cruise missiles, and alleged — without providing evidence — that the Dormition Cathedral was hit by a Ukrainian Patriot air defence missile that may have misfired due to an expired shelf life.

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected that framing, comparing the attack to a bombing of Notre-Dame and saying it only strengthened the resolve of Ukraine's allies. "Nothing justifies this attack on our universal heritage," he wrote on social media. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot echoed the sentiment.

The strikes came a day after Zelenskyy and Putin both spoke separately with US President Donald Trump, suggesting Washington had not abandoned diplomatic efforts to halt the conflict. Ukraine's war is set to feature prominently at the G7 summit in France on Tuesday, where Zelenskyy and Trump are both due to attend.