KYIV, June 15, (V7N) – Russia fired a barrage of missiles at several major Ukrainian cities on Monday, killing at least 11 people and sparking a fire at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the most important Orthodox monasteries and a UNESCO world heritage site. The fire set ablaze the roof of its Dormition Cathedral. "This is one of Russia's most serious crimes against Christian culture to date," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

The violence killed five people and wounded 34 in the capital, while in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, five rescue workers and a civil servant were killed. Russia's military said it carried out a "massive strike" on military sites but denied targeting the Lavra, claiming it was hit by an outdated US Patriot air defence missile. Moscow fired 70 missiles and 611 drones, mainly targeting Kyiv, Ukraine's air force said, adding it had downed 50 missiles and 582 drones.

Zelensky called for G7 leaders, gathering at a summit in France, to give a "decisive and substantive" response to the attacks, urging "more pressure on the aggressor and more support for Ukraine's air defence." EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said G7 leaders would discuss increasing pressure on Russia to bring Putin to the negotiating table. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the strikes, saying "nothing justifies this attack on our universal heritage."

In Kyiv, museum worker Natalia Korol expressed outrage at the strike on the monastery, saying, "It is a shrine. They also say that it is their shrine. You cannot strike shrines." The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, founded in the 11th century with emblematic golden domes, holds immense significance for Orthodox believers in both Ukraine and Russia. Its Dormition Cathedral was almost completely destroyed during World War II and rebuilt only in the 1990s.

The strikes came hours after the US and Iran announced a peace deal, and after Zelensky and Putin both called US President Donald Trump to discuss the Ukraine conflict. In a separate incident, a Ukrainian drone strike killed three people in the Russian city of Tula. Russia's February 2022 invasion has become Europe's worst conflict since World War II, with thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of troops killed.

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