Russian attack sets fire to centuries-old religious site in Kyiv and kills 5 in Kharkiv
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Five rescue workers were killed in Kharkiv and at least 20 were injured in the capital Kiev on Monday in Russia’s full-scale offensive into Ukraine. Strikes set fire to apartment buildings and sparked a fire in one building. The most important religious sites of the country.
Rescuers were killed in a second Russian attack in Kharkiv while fighting a fire caused by an earlier attack, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. At least five other emergency workers were injured.
A series of powerful explosions echoed through Kiev as many people took shelter underground and authorities urged residents to hide; a wave of ballistic missiles followed by Shahed drones.
“Kiev is under the main attack. There is serious destruction of civilian infrastructure,” Klymenko said.
Timur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said 20 people, including a child, sought medical help in the capital.
The official said that civilian areas in the Shevchenkivski district of the city, including a 25-storey apartment building, were hit in five attacks, while a market and a grocery store caught fire. A nine-storey residential building in the Obolonskyi district received a direct hit.
Tkachenko accused Russia of deliberately attacking apartment blocks.
“This is their deliberate decision,” he said.
Tkachenko, who accused Russia of deliberately attacking “the heart of one of the largest Christian temples”, said the damage to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, a monastery complex, was extensive and a serious fire broke out.
Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said that the roof of the Dormition Cathedral caught fire in the night attack. He condemned the strike as another Russian crime “against humanity, history and Christianity” and called for prayers to save the site.
Also known as Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Monastery of the CavesIt is a large complex of monasteries and churches, including some underground, built from the 11th to the 19th century. Some of the churches, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage site, are connected by a labyrinthine cave complex spanning more than 600 meters (2,000 feet).
The cathedral, churches and other buildings overlook the right bank of the Dnipro River and have been a pilgrimage site for centuries.
