Russian strikes damage Kyiv Dormition Cathedral and kill 11
Russian strikes on Ukraine killed at least 11 people on Monday morning, including four in Kyiv, and set fire to the 11th-century Dormition Cathedral in kyiv. The cathedral, part of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra UNESCO World Heritage Site, was significantly damaged before the fire was extinguished.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight attack hit several residential buildings in Kyiv, wounded at least 23 people there and left more than 140,000 people in the city without electricity. He said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones.
Zelensky on Kyiv strikes
Zelensky described the strike on the Dormition Cathedral as "one of the biggest Russian crimes against Christian culture today". He said a total of 53 people had been injured across Ukraine as rescue crews responded to fires and damage in Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Kharkiv added another fatal toll to the same overnight assault. Five rescue workers died while trying to put out a fire caused by a strike there, bringing the nationwide death count reported from the attacks to at least 11.
Russia and the cathedral fire
Russia said a US-manufactured Patriot air defence missile had hit the cathedral, possibly after misfiring, and denied hitting the cathedral site. That claim directly conflicts with the damage seen at the 11th-century landmark, which sits inside a UNESCO-listed monastic complex and carries religious and cultural weight for Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron reacted by saying, "Nothing justifies this attack on our universal heritage," as the strikes drew attention to damage that went beyond the immediate casualty count. The cathedral fire was out by the time Zelensky spoke, but the scale of the strike left Kyiv residents facing the loss of power and the loss of a protected landmark in the same morning.
France and G7 pressure
Zelensky tied the attack to broader pressure on Russia ahead of the G7 meeting in France, where the war in Ukraine is on the agenda. He called for "decisive and meaningful: more pressure on the aggressor, more assistance to Ukraine with air defense, primarily with anti-ballistic missiles".
For Kyiv, the immediate damage is already clear: dead civilians, wounded residents, a city hit by a major power outage, and a cathedral fire inside one of Ukraine's best-known religious sites. The next diplomatic test comes in France, where leaders are set to weigh whether the response matches the scale of the strike.
