KYIV, Ukraine — A cathedral in one of the oldest and most sacred landmarks in Eastern Orthodox Christianity was set ablaze early Monday as Russia bombarded Ukraine’s biggest cities, killing 11 people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Russia fired the barrage of hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at the capital of Kyiv, and the second-largest city of Kharkiv, after Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke separately by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday.
The exchange suggested 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 Tuesday by G7 leaders at a summit in France. Zelenskyy and Trump are due to attend, with the Ukrainian leader pushing his country’s plight while the Iran war diverts international attention.
“This is how Russia shows the world its intention to continue the war,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X, referring to the overnight attack on civilian sites that included the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, an 11th-century monastery complex.
“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.
Zelenskyy offered to meet Putin with Trump and European leaders at the G7 gathering in France but the Kremlin didn’t reply, a Ukrainian official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about it. The Kremlin has said repeatedly that if Zelenskyy wants to meet Putin, he can come to Moscow.
Putin is wanted by the court on a warrant dating to March 2023 for alleged involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine during the conflict. France would be obliged as an ICC member to arrest him. The United States and Russia both oppose the court.
Children are among the injured in Kyiv
Zelenskyy said that the Russian strikes killed 11 civilians and emergency workers and wounded 53 across Ukraine.
Five were killed in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, where at least 30 others were also wounded, 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. 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 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.
There was no immediate information about the 11th person killed in the attacks.
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 metres (2,000 feet).
Zelenskyy 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 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” in Paris.
Ukraine’s National Commission for UNESCO, which coordinates the country’s cooperation with the UN educational, scientific and cultural body, urged the international community to step up pressure on Moscow to stop its invasion and to throw it out of the organization.
“By destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage, (Russia) seeks to erase historical memory and inflicts damage upon the heritage of all humankind,” the commission said in a statement.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed, without offering evidence, that the complex was hit by one of Ukraine’s U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles, saying that it might have veered off course due to its age.
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 defences 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 defences downed 123 Ukrainian drones overnight.
AP reporters Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, Samuel Petrequin in London, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal contributed to this story.
Hanna Arhirova, The Associated Press
