A major Russian attack on Ukraine has claimed five lives and left no fewer than 20 injured as a religious monument burns.
The bombardment ignited a blaze at one of the nation’s most important religious sites in the capital Kyiv, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
The offensive occurred on Monday, June 15 and photographs from the location show residential blocks consumed by fire following the incident.
The five fatalities occurred in Kharkiv during a second Russian bombardment as they tackled flames from an initial assault, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said.
The minister confirmed that no fewer than five additional emergency personnel were injured.
Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, charged Russia with intentionally targeting “the heart of one of the largest Christian shrines” as there is considerable damage at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a monastic complex.
The roof of the Dormition Cathedral was set alight during the nocturnal offensive, said Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
He denounced the bombardment as yet another Russian atrocity “against humanity, against history, against Christianity” and called for prayers to preserve the location.
A succession of devastating blasts resonated throughout Kyiv, with a barrage of ballistic missiles accompanied by Shahed drones as numerous residents sought refuge underground and authorities urged citizens to take shelter.
“Kyiv is under the main strike. There is significant destruction of civilian infrastructure,” Klymenko said.
Twenty individuals, including a child, required medical assistance in the capital, according to Tkachenko.
He revealed that civilian locations in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district were struck five times in under half an hour, including a 25-storey apartment block, while a market and grocery shop were engulfed in flames.
In the Obolonskyi district, a nine-storey residential building sustained a direct strike.
“This is their deliberate decision,” he said.