Russia strikes cities across Ukraine, killing nine and setting historic Kyiv monastery on fire
Russia struck Kyiv in the early hours of June 15, hitting nearly every district of the city, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Four people were killed in the attack, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said. At least 30 were injured, including one child and a pregnant woman; three of the wounded are in serious condition, Klitschko said.
The shelling ignited a fire at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, with the roof of the Dormition Cathedral catching fire. A spokesperson for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Yevstratiy Zoria, published photographs of the blaze. Icons and relics were carried out of the lavra to save them from the flames, Bishop Avraamiy said. The valuables were successfully preserved.
A fire also broke out at the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Cultural, Arts, and Museum Complex, located across from the lavra.
The attack also set fire to the Dovzhenko National Film Studio. The costume workshop was damaged and Ukraine’s largest and oldest costume collection was destroyed, Culture Minister and Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy Tetiana Berezhna said. The studio held around 100,000 costumes and three million individual garments, she said.
Metropolitan Epifaniy, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, called the strike on Kyiv another Russian crime against humanity, against history, and against Christianity. “What more must the Kremlin Antichrist do for the world to realize that decisive action must be taken so that the Russian terror against Ukraine and the very principles of peace come to an end?” he wrote.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine would launch all relevant procedures under UNESCO and other international mechanisms, demanding an “immediate and adequate responses to this state barbarism.”
The attack also damaged power lines across Kyiv, leaving around 140,000 residents in the northern part of the city without electricity, Mayor Klitschko said.
Russia fired 70 missiles and 611 strike drones at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Kyiv was the primary target. Missiles also struck Dnipro and Kharkiv. In Kharkiv, five State Emergency Service rescuers were killed in a repeat Russian strike while fighting a fire, Internal Affairs Ministry head Ihor Klymenko said. At least five more rescuers were wounded. In Dnipro, the House of Organ and Chamber Music was damaged in the strike.
On June 12, Ukraine received information from the United States that Russia might launch an Oreshnik missile between June 11 and 14. According to Ukrainian media, Russia had warned the United States and its partners of a possible strike.
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on the morning of June 15 that the Russian military had carried out a massive strike against defense industry facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro “in response to terrorist acts by the ‘Kyiv regime.’”
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