A prominent monastery in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, seen as a symbol of the country’s spiritual and cultural history, caught fire, in the heaviest Russian air strikes on the city in two weeks, authorities said on Monday, urging residents to take shelter.Central Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in 1051, was “seriously damaged” in the attack, Reuters reported, citing a Telegram post by Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the capital’s military administration.Four people were killed and 23 injured, Tkachenko said.Videos circulating online showed towering flames rising over the monastery, as residents took shelter underground in the worst Russian attack on Ukraine since early June, when drones and missiles killed more than 20 people and left more than 100 wounded.According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia’s latest drone and missile strikes hit several high-rise apartment buildings and damaged electricity lines, leaving some 140,000 residents without power.The fresh strikes came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had spoken to US President Donald Trump and discussed efforts to achieve an end to the more than four-year conflict ahead of a G7 meeting in France this week.Russia, Ukraine intensify attacksMost of Ukraine’s territory was under air raid warnings in the early hours of Monday, while Ukrainian drones were being repelled over Russia as both countries continued to exchange strikes.Five emergency service rescuers were killed and at least five others injured after a second Russian strike hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko posted on Telegram.Moscow and Kyiv both deny deliberately targeting civilians.Ukraine has recently intensified attacks on Russian industrial and energy facilities as it seeks to deprive Moscow of revenues and hasten an end to the war.On Monday, three people were killed and another three, including a one-year-old child, were injured in a drone attack on the Russian city of Tula, an industrial cluster south of Moscow.The Russia–Ukraine war began on February 24, 2022.
