Korrespondent.net<\/a>.<\/p>\nA senior bishop in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Oleksandr Drabynko, witnessed Putin’s visit that day as an aide to the head of the then Moscow-affiliated church. Asked what he would tell the Russian president now, he says: “I would simply knock him out.”<\/p>\n
“After suffering setbacks, they began to see Ukraine as lost,” he said of Monday’s attack. “And once something is lost, it has to be severed and destroyed.”<\/p>\n
In all, 937 sites, including 336 churches, mosques and synagogues, have been damaged, according to data provided by Olena Kovalska, deputy head of the Ukrainian President’s Office. Still, “The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra occupies a unique place among those sites,” she said in emailed comments.<\/p>\n
Russia has intensified missile and drone attacks in recent weeks, stretching Ukraine’s air defenses, which rely heavily on U.S. and European missile supplies to defend Kyiv and other cities. A relentless campaign targeting energy infrastructure sought to freeze Ukrainians into submission last winter, the coldest since the war began.<\/p>\n
At least 274 civilians died and 1,763 were injured in Ukraine in May alone, the highest monthly total since April 2022, according to United Nations monitors. Long-range missiles and drones accounted for 45% of the total, they said in a report.<\/p>\n
Until this week, many Ukrainians regarded the Lavra as a relatively safe place in the capital because of its special significance to Putin, who regularly appears on Russian television attending Orthodox church ceremonies.<\/p>\n
In some ways, the fate of the Lavra reflects the broader struggle between Russia and Ukraine. For decades, many Ukrainians viewed the branch of the Orthodox Church subordinate to Moscow as hostile to their nation and a key vehicle for Russian influence. The Lavra has served as its most powerful symbol.<\/p>\n
While the church became markedly more critical of Russia after Putin launched the full-scale invasion in 2022, many Ukrainians still view its members with suspicion. Viktoriia, a lawyer and parishioner who spoke near the Lavra, did not disguise that she was offended by the government in Kyiv.<\/p>\n
“They stigmatize us, saying we are somehow not real Ukrainians,” she said.<\/p>\n
Still, she was reluctant to blame Putin directly for the strike on the cathedral, arguing it was a consequence of Ukrainians’ sins.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy pledged a response to the assault on the Lavra, and on Thursday Ukraine unleashed a record number of drones against the Russian capital, damaging the Moscow Oil Refinery and sending plumes of black smoke drifting across the city.<\/p>\n
The Lavra’s administration acknowledges there is little that can be done to protect historic sites such as the monastery from additional missile and drone attacks.<\/p>\n
“We follow all the required protocols,” said Kostiantyn Krainii, deputy chief executive of the Lavra National Preserve. “But the site covers 27 hectares and contains 140 cultural heritage assets.”<\/p>\n
The Dormition Cathedral has suffered severe damage at least twice in its history. In the 13th century, it was heavily damaged during the Mongol invasion of Kyiv. During World War II, it was demolished in an explosion. Whether Nazi forces or Soviet authorities were responsible for the blast remains a subject of historical debate.<\/p>\n
Cultural treasures from hundreds of museums in Ukraine have been moved to safer locations during the war, and physical protections have been strengthened at key heritage sites where feasible, Kovalska of the presidential office said.<\/p>\n
“But the most effective protection remains stronger air defenses,” she said.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy repeatedly urges Ukraine’s allies to help strengthen its air defenses in the face of increased Russian attacks, particularly ahead of winter, to avoid a repeat of last year’s hardships.<\/p>\n
It’s a difficult issue to resolve amid shortages of interceptors for ballistic missiles as demand has surged among Gulf states seeking protection against attacks from Iran during the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n
Putin has yet to comment on the damage to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. He laid flowers at Stolypin’s grave during a July 2013 visit marking the 1,025th anniversary of the 988 Baptism of Rus.<\/p>\n
Less than seven months later, he sent Russian troops to annex Crimea and stoked violence in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, beginning the spiral toward a war that continues today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vladimir Putin’s political hero, Pyotr Stolypin – a reforming prime minister of the Russian Empire – is buried…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[289,43,500,415,3918,158,2853,602,25,3917,69,26,3916,33,152,314],"class_list":["post-7861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-conflicts","tag-donald-trump","tag-drone-warfare","tag-international-relations","tag-invasions-of-ukraine","tag-kyiv","tag-kyiv-pechersk-lavra","tag-missile","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-military-relations","tag-russo-ukrainian-war","tag-ukraine","tag-unmanned-aerial-vehicle","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}