{"id":1515564,"date":"2026-06-15T03:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T08:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1515564"},"modified":"2026-06-15T03:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T08:24:08","slug":"russian-attack-sets-fire-to-centuries-old-religious-site-in-kyiv-and-kills-rescuers-in-kharkiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1515564","title":{"rendered":"Russian attack sets fire to centuries-old religious site in Kyiv and kills rescuers in Kharkiv"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Rescue workers try to put out a fire at the Dormition Cathedral of thousand-year-old Monastery of Caves, also known as Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, following a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka)<\/figcaption><\/figure>KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 A large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine killed rescue personnel in Kharkiv and four people in the capital Kyiv on Monday as strikes set apartment buildings ablaze and sparked a fire at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the country\u2019s most significant religious landmarks.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Air Force said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight, primarily targeting Kyiv, while also striking the cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv. The military said air defenses intercepted or electronically suppressed 632 aerial targets, including 50 missiles and 582 drones. Preliminary data showed 20 ballistic missiles and 27 attack drones hit 42 locations across the country, while debris from intercepted drones fell at 12 sites.<\/p>\n

A series of powerful explosions echoed across Kyiv, with a wave of ballistic missiles followed by Shahed drones as many people sought shelter underground and officials urged residents to take cover.<\/p>\n

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said four people were killed and at least 30 were injured, including two children aged 5 and 6.<\/p>\n

Five strikes hit civilian sites in the city\u2019s Shevchenkivskyi district in less than 30 minutes, he said, including a 25-story apartment building, while a market and a grocery store caught fire. In the Obolonskyi district, a nine-story residential building took a direct hit.<\/p>\n

Striking apartment blocks was a \u201cdeliberate decision\u201d by Russia, he said.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said it carried out a strike with long-range precision weapons and drones on military industrial facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro, as well as military conscription offices and military air bases. It said \u201cthe goals of the strikes have been fulfilled and all the designated facilities have been hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 123 Ukrainian drones overnight.
\nAttacks kill rescuers, destroy college<\/p>\n

In Kharkiv, authorities said Russian forces used a \u201cdouble tap\u201d tactic, launching four additional drone strikes on the site of an earlier attack in the Kholodnohirskyi district after emergency crews had arrived.<\/p>\n

Four emergency service workers and an employee of the Kharkiv City Council\u2019s emergency department were killed, while six rescuers and three civilians were injured. Separately, a woman was injured in the city\u2019s Shevchenkivskyi district, where residential buildings and vehicles were damaged in a drone strike.<\/p>\n

In Dnipro, one of the buildings of a local college was destroyed, while the blast wave shattered windows at a school and the city\u2019s House of Organ and Chamber Music, according to Dnipropetrovsk regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.<\/p>\n

Two people were injured and infrastructure, businesses, a college and cultural institutions were damaged. Russian forces also carried out nearly 30 attacks using drones, artillery, missiles and guided aerial bombs in Dnipro as well as the Kryvyi Rih, Pavlohrad, Synelnykove and Nikopol districts.<\/p>\n

In the Sumy region, three people including a child were injured after a Russian strike hit an apartment building and damaged a non-residential structure, Ukraine\u2019s State Emergency Service said.<\/p>\n

UNESCO site damaged<\/strong><\/p>\n

Damage at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a monastic complex, was substantial and a serious fire had broken out, said Tkachenko, who accused Russia of deliberately striking \u201cthe heart of one of the largest Christian shrines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The roof of the Dormition Cathedral caught fire during the overnight attack, said Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He condemned the strike as another Russian crime \u201cagainst humanity, against history, against Christianity\u201d and appealed for prayers to save the site.<\/p>\n

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a sprawling complex of monasteries and churches, including some underground, built from the 11th to the 19th century. Some of the churches at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site are connected by a labyrinthine complex of caves spanning more than 600 meters (2,000 feet).<\/p>\n

The cathedral, churches and other buildings overlook the right bank of the Dnipro River and have been a pilgrimage site for centuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine killed rescue personnel in Kharkiv and four people in the capital Kyiv on Monday as strikes set apartment buildings ablaze and sparked a fire at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the country\u2019s most significant religious landmarks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1515565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1502,1504],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-heads","category-abc-world-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-17 03:23:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1515564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1515566,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515564\/revisions\/1515566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1515565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1515564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1515564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1515564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}