Five people were killed and 28 injured when Russian drones and missiles struck Kyiv overnight Sunday, hitting residential areas and setting fire to an 11th-century cathedral that is a UNESCO world heritage site. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported the casualty figures in social media posts Monday morning.
According to ABC News, Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones into Ukraine overnight. Of those, 50 missiles and 582 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed. Twenty ballistic missiles and 27 drones struck across 42 locations.
The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, a monastery and cathedral complex in the heart of Kyiv, was among the damaged sites. Zelenskyy reported that strikes set fire to the roof of the church, though emergency responders extinguished the blaze. "This is one of the biggest Russian crimes against Christian culture to date," he wrote.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the attack as "barbaric" in a post to X. He wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has forever put his name on the list of history's worst barbarians."
Russia's Defense Ministry described the overnight operation as "a massive strike with high-precision weapons" and claimed its targets were defense-industrial facilities and military installations in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro. The ministry denied responsibility for the strike on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, claiming without providing evidence that the cathedral was hit by an interceptor missile fired by a Ukrainian-operated U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system.
Zelenskyy said that at least five more people were killed and nine injured in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, with additional attacks reported across the Kyiv, Dnipro, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions.
The attack was the largest combined Russian strike recorded since the night of June 1, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.
Zelenskyy called on G7 nations, who were preparing to gather for their annual summit, to respond with more pressure on Russia and more air defense assistance for Ukraine, specifically requesting additional anti-ballistic missiles. "Russia is showing the world its intentions to continue the war," he wrote. "It is very important that there be a response from the G7 countries, which are currently gathering for a summit, and that it be decisive and meaningful: more pressure on the aggressor, more help for Ukraine with air defense, especially with anti-ballistic missiles."
