Moscow’s drone and missile attack overnight on Monday hit the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of Ukraine’s most important historic and religious symbols, while millions of Ukrainians sought shelter across the country and an estimated 42,000 people spent the night in Kyiv’s metro stations.
Who Pays for the War Machine
As the first explosions rang out across Kyiv, images began circulating on social media showing flames rising above the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra church complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The attack landed on a place that is not just a religious complex but a centuries-old monument to Ukrainian cultural memory, built between the 11th and 19th centuries and connected by underground caves spanning more than 600 meters. The people below ground were the ones forced to absorb the shock: families, commuters, and residents taking shelter in metro stations while the machinery of war tore into a site that has stood for generations.
President Zelenskyy said the strike was “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.” He said it was very important that there be a response from the G7 countries, which were gathering for their summit, and that the response be decisive and substantive, with more pressure on the aggressor and more support for Ukraine’s air defence, especially anti-ballistic capabilities. The language of summit diplomacy and pressure campaigns arrived after the blast; the people in the metro stations and the staff at the Lavra were already dealing with the damage.
The Shrine, the Shelter, the Ruins
Zelenskyy visited the scene on Monday morning together with Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and other members of his government, as rescue efforts continued and the bells of the Lavra rang out across Kyiv despite the damage. Svyrydenko called it “A brutal assault on our people and our heritage. This is the true face of Russia’s Orthodox values,” and added, “We ask for prayers for the salvation of the shrine from destruction. Another Russian crime against humanity, against history, against Christianity.”
Head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Metropolitan Epiphanius was among the first to confirm the strike on social media, saying the roof of the complex’s Dormition Cathedral caught fire during the attack. He condemned the strike as another Russian crime “against humanity, against history, against Christianity” and appealed for prayers to save the site. Staff scrambled to evacuate ancient icons, artworks and other religious relics from the complex, which houses some of Ukraine’s most revered shrines. The work of saving what could be carried fell to people on the ground while the state and its allies talked about responses, pressure, and capabilities.
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a sprawling complex of monasteries and churches, including some underground, built between the 11th and 19th centuries. Some of the churches at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site are connected by a labyrinthine complex of caves spanning more than 600 meters. For many Ukrainians, the Lavra is far more than a monastic complex; it is a living link to Kyivan Rus, the first eastern Slavic state, and a symbol of an unbroken historical and spiritual tradition rooted in Kyiv rather than Moscow.
What the Powerful Call Response
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that Ukraine would be “urgently initiating” procedures within UNESCO and other international mechanisms to ensure “immediate and adequate responses to this state barbarism.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the attack was the “equivalent, for us French, of a bombing of Notre Dame,” referring to the iconic Paris cathedral. French President Emmanuel Macron said the attack only strengthened the determination of Ukraine’s allies to pursue a ceasefire and work toward peace. Macron wrote on social media: “Just as nothing can justify the war of aggression that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years, nothing can justify this attack on our shared universal heritage.”
One of Ukraine’s most prominent human rights defenders and a co-recipient of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, Oleksandra Matviichuk, said Russia “deliberately struck the Lavra — built during the era of Kyivan Rus’, when Moscow itself did not yet exist — with a Russian drone.” Matviichuk added, “The church in Russia has been taken over by the security services. That is why Russian priests support the war and bless the missiles and drones that strike Christian churches,” and said, “We will rebuild the Lavra. And those who support the Russian state, which is fighting against God and the churches, will be held accountable for their actions.”
The attack on the Lavra, a site dating to the era of Kyivan Rus, is among the most significant assaults on Ukrainian cultural heritage since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. The bells kept ringing across Kyiv even as rescue efforts continued, a grim soundtrack to a strike that hit a UNESCO site while ordinary people hid underground and officials reached for summit statements, international procedures and promises of future accountability.