Russia’s latest air campaign has left nine Ukrainian civilians dead and many wounded as missile and drone strikes burst across several cities of the country.
Four people died in an assault on residential buildings in Kyiv, while five crowd‑control rescue workers lost their lives trying to extinguish a fire ignited by a Russian missile on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, officials said.
The 11‑century Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery was heavily damaged in what Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described as a “brutal assault on our people and our heritage.”
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Tula south of Moscow also claimed three lives and wounded three others, including a one‑year‑old child, according to authorities.
The missile barrage set fire to buildings and cars in Kyiv, leaving more than 140,000 residents without electricity, while the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported that most of Ukraine had been under continuous air‑raid warnings.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha declared that Ukraine would urgently engage UNESCO and other international bodies, demanding an immediate response to what he termed a grave violation of cultural heritage.
Poland, Ukraine’s neighbour, scrambled fighter jets and activated ground‑based air‑defence systems in a “preventive” stance against further Russian strikes in Kyiv.
These attacks come ahead of a G7 meeting in France, where the Ukraine war remains on the agenda for discussion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that he had spoken with former U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday about attempts to end the long‑running conflict.
The backdrop to these events is Russia’s full‑scale invasion, which began in 2022 and has continued to shape the region’s security landscape.
