Russian strikes kill nine in Ukraine and damage historic cathedral, officials say



Reuters Flames engulf the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery in Ukraine following a major Russian strike
The Dormition Cathedral is a religious and cultural symbol for Ukraine's people.


Nine people have been killed and several others injured after a wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine. In the attacks on Kyiv, four civilians died while five rescue workers perished while trying to extinguish a fire set by a Russian missile in Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials reported.


The 11th‑century Dormition Cathedral was heavily damaged in what Ukraine’s prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko called a "brutal assault on our people and our heritage". The cathedral’s ruins were photographed as flames licked the sacred structure.


Ukrainian forces also carried out a drone attack in the Russian city of Tula, killing three people and injuring three others, including a one‑year‑old, officials said.


According to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, the missile and drone strikes set fire to buildings and cars and left more than 140,000 residents of the capital without electricity. The city was under air‑raid warning throughout the day.


Ukraine's foreign affairs minister Andrii Sybiha urged UNESCO and other international bodies to act urgently, demanding immediate and adequate responses to what he called state barbarism.


Poland, Ukraine’s neighbour, deployed its scrambled fighter jets and placed ground‑based air defence systems on alert in what it described as a preventive response to the strikes.


The series of attacks comes just before a G7 summit in France, where the war in Ukraine is on the agenda. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump about efforts to end the conflict.


Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the country has since faced widespread devastation and international condemnation.