Russian attacks on Kyiv: UNESCO cave monastery on fire, at least five dead

Blow to Ukraine's cultural heritage

Heavy is the damage to one of the country's most significant cultural monuments. In the capital Kyiv, the cave monastery, part of the UNESCO World Heritage, also caught fire after a direct hit. According to operational information, there is serious damage on the grounds of the cave monastery, wrote Kyiv military governor Tymur Tkatschenko on Telegram. Images on social networks showed flames in the roof area of the Dormition Cathedral with its gilded domes.

The monastery, on the grounds of the world-famous pilgrimage site on the Dnieper River, whose origins date back to the 11th century, houses several museums. The complex has been protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. In its lower part lies an extensive cave system with mummies of deceased clergy. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko spoke of a brutal attack on Ukrainian heritage.

The Dormition Cathedral, the centerpiece of the complex, had already been destroyed in 1941 during World War II and was only rebuilt in the late 1990s. Whether the current fire was triggered by direct hits from Russian projectiles or by falling debris following air defense operations remained initially unclear. The cathedral stands on monastery grounds that are Ukrainian state property.

Scale of the attacks in numbers

In addition to the monastery, the attacks also caused severe damage in residential areas. A high-rise building as well as several cars and houses also caught fire from falling drone debris. According to media reports, the Russian attackers struck with more than 50 missiles and around 500 drones, according to Tymur Tkatschenko; the military governor spoke of more than 40 impact sites in the capital. Around 30 vehicles caught fire.

Klitschko initially reported 23 injured. At least five people were killed. In Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, five people were killed according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Rescue workers were attacked while fighting the fires. According to the Ukrainian outlet The Kyiv Independent, citing Governor Oleh Syniehubov, five rescue workers alone were killed in Kharkiv, and four other people were injured. There were also several injured.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro was also a target of the attacks. In the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, one person was injured, as the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Hanchuk, announced. Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian invasion for more than four years; widespread airstrikes have by now become almost routine.

Poland scrambles fighter jets – drone attack also on Tula

The attacks also had diplomatic and military consequences in neighboring countries. Because of the massive attacks, neighboring NATO country Poland scrambled fighter jets to, according to its own statements, protect the country's airspace. In the city of Tula, some 200 kilometers south of Moscow, three people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack according to Russian regional governor Dmitry Milyaev. Three other people, including a one-year-old child, were injured in the attack on a residential area. The Moscow city administration stated that several incoming drones had been shot down; there was initially no information on damage or possible casualties.

Ecclesiastical and political background

Ecclesiastically, the complex is politically charged. The lower part of the monastery continues to be used by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which until the Russian invasion in 2022 considered itself part of the Moscow Patriarchate, but has since distanced itself from Moscow. Despite state pressure, the church continues to use the site. None of the reports could initially be independently verified.

The events raise anew the question of the protection of cultural goods in times of war. The damage to the Lavra, one of the oldest and most visited monasteries of the Orthodox world, is not only a loss for Ukrainian, but for all of European cultural history. International reactions to the attack had not yet been received by editorial deadline.