Russian attack sets fire to centuries-old religious site in Kyiv, kills rescuers in Kharkiv

A large-scale Russian assail on ukrayina killed deliver personnel in Kharkiv and quartet people in the working capital Kyiv on Monday as strikes set apartment buildings ablaze and sparked a fire at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the country's most significant religious landmarks.

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.

A series of powerful explosions echoed across Kyiv, with a wave of ballistic missiles followed by Shahed drones as many people sought shelter underground and officials urged residents to take cover.

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Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said four people were killed and at least 30 were injured, including two children aged five and six.

Five strikes hit civilian sites in the city's Shevchenkivskyi district in less than 30 minutes, he said, including a 25-storey apartment building, while a market and a grocery store caught fire. In the Obolonskyi district, a nine-storey residential building took a direct hit.

Striking apartment blocks was a "deliberate decision" by Russia, he said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it carried out a strike with long-range precision weapons and drones on military industrial facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro, as well as military conscription offices and military air bases. It said "the goals of the strikes have been fulfilled and all the designated facilities have been hit."

Russia's Defence Ministry said air defenses downed 123 Ukrainian drones overnight.

In Kharkiv, authorities said Russian forces used a "double tap" tactic, launching four additional drone strikes on the site of an earlier attack in the Kholodnohirskyi district after emergency crews had arrived.

Four emergency service workers and an employee of the Kharkiv City Council's emergency department were killed, while six rescuers and three civilians were injured. Separately, a woman was injured in the city's Shevchenkivskyi district, where residential buildings and vehicles were damaged in a drone strike.

In Dnipro, one of the buildings of a local college was destroyed, while the blast wave shattered windows at a school and the city's House of Organ and Chamber Music, according to Dnipropetrovsk regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.

Two people were injured and infrastructure, businesses, a college and cultural institutions were damaged. Russian forces also carried out nearly 30 attacks using drones, artillery, missiles and guided aerial bombs in Dnipro as well as the Kryvyi Rih, Pavlohrad, Synelnykove and Nikopol districts.

In the Sumy region, three people including a child were injured after a Russian strike hit an apartment building and damaged a non-residential structure, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.

Damage at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a monastic complex, was substantial and a serious fire had broken out, said Tkachenko, who accused Russia of deliberately striking "the heart of one of the largest Christian shrines."

The roof of the Dormition Cathedral caught fire during the overnight 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 from the 11th to the 19th century. Some of the churches at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site are connected by a labyrinthine complex of caves spanning more than 600 metres.

The cathedral, churches and other buildings overlook the right bank of the Dnipro River and have been a pilgrimage site for centuries.

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