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Historic Kyiv monastery hit as Russia launches major air attack
🇮🇪 Ireland /Conflict & Security

Historic Kyiv monastery hit as Russia launches major air attack

From RTÉ News · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Ongoing story
  • Russia launched a major air attack on Kyiv, causing damage to infrastructure and the historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery.
  • The attack injured 20 people, left 140,000 residents without power, and damaged electricity lines.
  • Ukraine condemned the attack as a strike against its heritage, while Poland scrambled fighter jets in response.

Kyiv faced a massive Russian air assault, with missiles and drones striking the capital, causing widespread damage and injuring at least 20 people. The historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in 1051, sustained serious damage in a direct attack, according to Ukrainian officials. The monastery is a significant symbol of Ukrainian spiritual and cultural history.

A brutal assault on our people and our heritage. This is the true face of Russia's Orthodox values.

— Yulia SvyrydenkoUkrainian Prime Minister's condemnation of the Russian attack on the monastery.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that the attack damaged electricity lines, leaving approximately 140,000 residents in Kyiv without power. Debris from drones also reportedly caused fires in some houses and cars. Ukrainian air defenses were active, intercepting a number of incoming Russian missiles over the city.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko denounced the assault, calling it a "brutal assault on our people and our heritage" and labeling it "the true face of Russia's Orthodox values." Metropolitan Epifaniy, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, questioned how much more the world needed to witness before taking decisive action against "Russian terror."

What more must the Kremlin Antichrist do for the world to realize that decisive action must be taken so that the Russian terror against Ukraine and the very principles of peace comes to an end?

— Metropolitan EpifaniyHead of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's call for international action against Russian aggression.

In response to the escalating attacks, neighboring Poland, a NATO and EU member, placed its fighter jets and air defense systems on a state of readiness. The conflict also extended to other regions, with Ukrainian drones reportedly being repelled over Russia. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, a second Russian strike killed five emergency service rescuers and injured at least five others. Meanwhile, Russian authorities reported three deaths, including a child, in a drone attack on the city of Tula, south of Moscow.

The city was under massive drone and missile attacks, with a number of high-rise apartments being hit.

— Kyiv authoritiesDescription of the scale and impact of the Russian attack on Kyiv.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by RTÉ News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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