KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 Twenty people were injured and the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a symbol of Ukrainian spiritual and cultural history, caught fire following a major Russian \u200bair attack on the Ukrainian capital, authorities said on Monday, urging residents to take shelter.<\/p>\n
The attack damaged electricity lines and left 140,000 Kyiv residents without power, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that some houses and \u200ccars caught fire after being hit by drone debris.<\/p>\n
The central Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in 1051, was seriously damaged in a direct attack, \u2060Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the capital’s military administration, said in \u200ba separate Telegram post.<\/p>\n
“A brutal assault on our people and our \u2060heritage. This is the true face of Russia’s Orthodox values,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X, with her post showing the \u200cmonastery buildings in flames.<\/p>\n
The city was \u200cunder massive drone and missile attacks, with a number of high-rise apartments being hit, according to Kyiv authorities.<\/p>\n
“What \u2060more must the Kremlin Antichrist do for the world to realize that decisive action \u2060must be taken so that the Russian terror against Ukraine and the very principles of peace comes to an end?” Metropolitan Epifaniy, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said on X.<\/p>\n
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, which was hit during Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday. (Photo: Valentyn Ogirenko, Reuters)<\/p>\n
Neighbouring Poland, a European Union and a NATO member, has scrambled its fighter jets and put ground-based air defense systems and radar reconnaissance on a state of readiness, Poland’s Armed Forces said in a post on X.<\/p>\n
Attacks on Ukraine’s regions, central Russia<\/p>\n
Most of Ukraine’s territory was under air raid warnings in the early hours \u200cof Monday and Ukrainian drones were being repelled over Russia as both countries continue to \u200bexchange strikes in the more than four-year war.<\/p>\n
Five emergency service rescuers were killed and at least another five injured after a second Russian strike hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram, with three people, including a child, wounded in Sumy, according to social media posts by local authorities.<\/p>\n
Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately attacking civilians. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has recently intensified attacks on Russian industrial and energy facilities, as it tries to deprive Moscow from revenues to bring the end to the war closer.<\/p>\n
On Monday, three people were killed and another three, including a one-year-old child, were \u200binjured in a drone attack on the Russian city of Tula, an industrial cluster south of Moscow, the regional governor said in a Telegram post.<\/p>\n
Moscow was also repelling \u200ca drone attack \u200covernight, its mayor said on \u2060social media.<\/p>\n
The latest strikes come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday he had spoken to President Donald Trump and discussed efforts to achieve an end to the conflict, ahead of a G7 meeting in France this week.<\/p>\n
Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday that ending the conflict in Ukraine was vital and he was ready to help, the Kremlin said.<\/p>\n