Russian attack sets fire to centuries-old religious site in Kyiv and
kills rescuers in Kharkiv
[June 15, 2026]
By HANNA ARHIROVA
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — 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’s most significant religious
landmarks.
Ukraine’s 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.
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.
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.
Five strikes hit civilian sites in the city’s 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.
Striking apartment blocks was a “deliberate decision” by Russia, he
said.
Russia’s 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 “the goals of the strikes have been
fulfilled and all the designated facilities have been hit.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 123 Ukrainian drones
overnight.
Attacks kill rescuers, destroy college
In Kharkiv, authorities said Russian forces used a “double tap” tactic,
launching four additional drone strikes on the site of an earlier attack
in the Kholodnohirskyi district after emergency crews had arrived.
Four emergency service workers and an employee of the Kharkiv City
Council’s emergency department were killed, while six rescuers and three
civilians were injured. Separately, a woman was injured in the city’s
Shevchenkivskyi district, where residential buildings and vehicles were
damaged in a drone strike.
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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)
In Dnipro, one of the buildings of a local college was destroyed,
while the blast wave shattered windows at a school and the city’s
House of Organ and Chamber Music, according to Dnipropetrovsk
regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.
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.
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’s State Emergency Service said.
UNESCO site damaged
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 “the heart of one of the
largest Christian shrines.”
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 “against
humanity, against history, against Christianity” and appealed for
prayers to save the site.
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).
The cathedral, churches and other buildings overlook the right bank
of the Dnipro River and have been a pilgrimage site for centuries.
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