Russian attack sets fire to centuries-old religious site in Kyiv and kills 5 in Kharkiv

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A large-scale Russian onslaught connected Ukraine killed 5 rescuers successful Kharkiv and wounded astatine slightest 20 radical successful the superior Kyiv connected Monday arsenic strikes acceptable flat buildings ablaze and sparked a occurrence astatine 1 of the country’s astir important spiritual landmarks.

The rescuers were killed successful Kharkiv by a 2nd Russian onslaught arsenic they fought a blaze caused by an earlier attack, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. At slightest 5 different exigency workers were wounded.

A bid of almighty explosions echoed crossed Kyiv, with a question of ballistic missiles followed by Shahed drones arsenic galore radical sought structure underground and officials urged residents to instrumentality cover.

“Kyiv is nether the main strike. There is important demolition of civilian infrastructure,” Klymenko said.

Twenty people, including a child, sought aesculapian assistance successful the capital, said Tymur Tkachenko, caput of the Kyiv City Military Administration.

Five strikes deed civilian sites successful the city’s Shevchenkivskyi territory successful little than 30 minutes, helium said, including a 25-story flat building, portion a marketplace and a market store caught fire. In the Obolonskyi district, a nine-story residential gathering took a nonstop hit.

Tkachenko accused Russia of striking flat blocks connected purpose.

“This is their deliberate decision,” helium said.

Damage astatine the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a monastic complex, was important and a superior occurrence had breached out, said Tkachenko, who accused Russia of deliberately striking “the bosom of 1 of the largest Christian shrines.”

The extortion of the Dormition Cathedral caught occurrence during the overnight attack, said Metropolitan Epiphanius, caput of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He condemned the onslaught arsenic different Russian transgression “against humanity, against history, against Christianity” and appealed for prayers to prevention the site.

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, besides known arsenic the Monastery of the Caves, is simply a sprawling analyzable of monasteries and churches, including immoderate underground, built from the 11th to the 19th century. Some of the churches astatine the UNESCO-listed World Heritage tract are connected by a labyrinthine analyzable of caves spanning much than 600 meters (2,000 feet).

The cathedral, churches and different buildings place the close slope of the Dnipro River and person been a pilgrimage tract for centuries.

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