Russia launched a massive overnight barrage of 70 missiles and 611 drones targeting Ukraine's largest cities, killing at least 11 people and wounding 53, officials reported Monday. The assault struck civilian sites in Kyiv and Kharkiv, igniting a fire at the 11th-century Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery complex.
In Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi district, five strikes hit civilian infrastructure in under 30 minutes, including a 25-story apartment building, a market, and a grocery store. Two children, aged 5 and 6, were among the wounded.
The attack set the roof of the Dormition Cathedral ablaze at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot compared the damage to a bombing of Notre Dame in Paris. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the strike Moscow's "biggest crime yet against Christian culture."
Zelenskyy demanded a "decisive and substantive" response from G7 leaders as they prepared to meet in France. The attacks followed separate phone calls between Zelenskyy, Vladimir Putin, and U.S. President Donald Trump, indicating diplomatic channels remain active despite the escalating violence. Ukraine's air force reported intercepting 50 missiles and 582 drones, while debris caused additional damage at 12 sites.