Russian drone attack on Ukraine damages several cultural sites

Russian missile and drone strikes over the weekend and into Monday damaged multiple Ukrainian cultural sites, including the UNESCO-listed Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and the adjacent Mystetskyi Arsenal contemporary art center in Kyiv. Metropolitan Epiphanius said the Dormition (Assumption) Cathedral’s roof was on fire during the night of June 15, and UNESCO warned of possible significant damage to the cathedral as well as nearby historic structures including parts of the fortifications and the Ivan Kushnik Tower. Mystetskyi Arsenal director general Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta reported that a Shahed drone strike seriously affected a large portion of the roof of the Old Arsenal’s left wing after hitting a tower and exploding on the roof. President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the sites on Monday and reported 35 injured in Kyiv, 53 wounded nationwide, and 11 killed, while Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed reports of Russia hitting the Lavra were “fakes” and blamed an American Patriot air-defense missile supplied to Ukraine.

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