Nine people have been killed and several others wounded after a new series of Russian strikes hit multiple locations across Ukraine, including Kyiv, where a major historic church was set ablaze, officials said.
Authorities said four people died in the capital after strikes struck residential areas, while five rescue personnel were killed in Kharkiv when they were responding to a fire triggered by an earlier attack in the north-eastern city.
The 11th Century Dormition Cathedral sustained heavy damage in what Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko called a “brutal assault on our people and our heritage”.
In a related development, a Ukrainian drone strike in Tula, a Russian city south of Moscow, killed three people and left three others injured, including a one-year-old child, according to local officials.
Kyiv officials reported that drone and missile fire ignited multiple blazes in apartment blocks and vehicles, while also cutting power to more than 140,000 residents across the capital, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Most parts of Ukraine were placed under air raid alerts on Monday as the attacks spread across the country.
In Kyiv, the strikes damaged several residential buildings and left at least 23 people injured, while Kharkiv reported five additional injuries.
The Dormition Cathedral is located within the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra complex, a UNESCO-listed monastic site recognised as a World Heritage Site.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, “We will be urgently initiating all relevant procedures within Unesco and all other international mechanisms, demanding immediate and adequate responses to this state barbarism,” as Ukraine prepares to pursue international accountability.
The cathedral has previously suffered destruction, having been nearly obliterated during the Second World War, with only its south-eastern tower surviving, according to UNESCO.
It was later rebuilt about a quarter of a century ago in the style of late 18th Century Ukrainian Baroque architecture.
The strikes come shortly before a G7 gathering in France, where the ongoing war in Ukraine is expected to feature prominently.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had spoken with US President Donald Trump about diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the conflict.
The invasion of Ukraine was launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022.
