Russia struck one of Ukraine’s most significant religious sites in a massive missile and drone attack on the country into the early hours of Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
At least 10 people were killed in Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, as orange flames lit up the night sky in the Ukrainian capital and illuminated the golden domes of the famed Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery and cathedral.
Ukrainian officials widely condemned the damage to the UNESCO World Heritage site, which was founded almost 1,000 years ago.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the landmark “one of the greatest holy sites of Christianity,” while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the damage was “one of the biggest Russian crimes against Christian culture today.”
Russia denied targeting the site and said a malfunctioning American-made Patriot air defense missile, which Ukraine uses to intercept Moscow’s fastest-traveling missiles, struck the complex. Ukraine’s SBU state security service said fragments of a Russian explosive drone had been found at the site.
Russia fired more than 70 missiles, including the Zircon cruise missile that Moscow says travels at nine times the speed of sound, and more than 600 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv’s air force said.
What Is the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra?
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, with the bodies of saints buried in its caves, is a major Christian pilgrimage site and treasured in the early histories of both Russia and Ukraine, tracing back to Rus—a predecessor state to both modern countries that also included parts of Belarus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin leaned heavily on the history of Rus to paint Russians and Ukrainians as one people and to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine from early 2022.
Although most heavily bound up in Orthodox Christianity, the site does have ties to the other branches of Christianity that have proliferated across the globe, said Monica White, an associate professor in Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Nottingham, U.K.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church split from the Moscow Patriarchate—the top leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church—shortly after Russian tanks rolled over the border more than four years ago, although Ukraine’s authorities suspect the church has maintained some links with Russian institutions.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has publicly supported the Kremlin’s invasion. But Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who leads the Eastern Orthodox Church from Istanbul, Turkey, has repeatedly backed Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities later said the fire at the religious site had been extinguished, but a blaze at the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Culture Museum Complex, also in Kyiv, still raged. Zelensky posted images of himself at the site, walking through the remains of a collapsed, burned section while crews working close to charred section of roof near the golden domes.
A court dealing with corruption cases in Kyiv, as well as a major power facility, a school and a kindergarten in the capital were also damaged, Ukrainian officials said.
Five people were killed in the northeastern city of Kharkiv in a “double tap” strike as first responders rushed to the scene of a Russian attack, said Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. This refers to a follow-up strike on a certain area that targets emergency services and civilians returning to an area previously attacked.
Ukrainian authorities said Russia also fired on a railway station, a college and businesses in the central city of Dnipro.
Comparison With ISIS
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia had “outmatched ISIS in their crimes against cultural heritage,” referencing militant jihadists largely based in the Middle East who damaged or took control of well-known cultural and religious monuments, including UNESCO World Heritage sites.
UNESCO says the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra “represents a masterpiece of human creative genius in both its architectural conception and its remarkable decoration.”
Sybiha said the site was “under special protection” and Ukraine expected “strong reactions by international institutions and capitals.”
“The Ukrainians are completely justified in saying this is an aspect of world heritage,” White told Newsweek. “Whether it’s a mistake or not, it’s going to play very badly at home in Russia.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack was “the equivalent, for us in â France, as if Notre Dame ​or ​Saint Denis had been ​bombed, which is ​totally unacceptable.” Emmanuel Macron, the French president, called the damage an “attack on our universal heritage” and said a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine would be on the agenda at the G7 summit hosted by France this week.
But while medieval landmarks are more common in Western European countries like France, historical goldmines like the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra are far less common in Russia and Ukraine, said White.
Many medieval sites were destroyed by Mongol invasions in the 13th century, the decades of the Soviet Union and conflicts over the past century.
“Cultural heritage from that period is disproportionately precious in that part of the world,” said White.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Russian attacks on civilian targets were “war crimes” and the economic bloc would be slapping Russia with fresh sanctions.
Update 6/15/2026 at 7:45 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
