A Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv kills 5 people, damages the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery. A Russian double-tap missile strike on Kharkiv kills five. A Russian aerial attack damages a historic organ hall in Dnipro.
Russian drone, missile attack on Kyiv kills 5, damages Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery
Russia launched a major drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight on Monday, with Kyiv being the main target. The cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv were also hit. Five people were killed in Kyiv and 34 others were injuring. The strike damaged several historic and cultural sites in the capital, including the Dormition Cathedral at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, Mystetskyi Arsenal cultural institution and Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studios.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched 611 drones of various types and 70 missiles toward Ukraine, including six 3M22 Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles, 34 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles and 30 Kh-101 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers.
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or otherwise neutralized 582 drones and 50 missiles, including five 3M22 Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles, 15 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles and all 30 Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles.
Twenty ballistic missiles and 27 attack drones hit target in 42 locations. Drone debris fell in 12 other sites, the Air Force added.
The strike used one of the largest number of ballistic missiles, Head of the Communications Directorate for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, Colonel Yuriy Ihnat said.
A Russian drone struck the Dormition Cathedral, setting its roof ablaze and damaging a number of objects in the upper part. Religious relics and museum exhibits were evacuated from the cathedral. The blaze affected 800 square meters of its roof. When rescue workers arrived at the site, Russia hit the area once again, damaging the Mysteskyi Arsenal across the road. A fire started there. No one was hurt in the episode and the damage was being assessed, the institution said in a statement.
A strike on the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studios destroyed the country’s largest and oldest collection of film costumes, Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy of Ukraine — Minister of Culture of Ukraine, Tetyana Berezhna said. The site stored more than 100,000 costumes and three million pieces of clothes, she added.
The studios’ director general, Andriy Donchyk said a strike hit the costume storage and another one struck an area in front of the studios. People were unhurt.
“It stored the costumes from some of the films that made history, including The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, The Lost Letter and Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. What happened is that the premises behind me have been completely destroyed with almost nothing preserved,” Donchyk said on national television on Monday.
Windows at the studios were blown off, while the doors and equipment were damaged. The filmstrip storage could not be accessed immediately because of the damage to the studios. Donchyk said he was hopeful that a collection of around 600 films was not affected.
A Russian double-tap missile strike on Kharkiv kills five
A Russian double-tap missile strike on Kharkiv overnight on Monday killed four firefighters and a staff member of the city council’s emergency department. Six more firefighters and three civilians were injured. A fire started at a non-residential house in the Kholodnohirskyi district on Sunday after a Russian attack. Later Russia carried out four missile strikes that targeted the area where rescue efforts were underway.
Eight of Kharkiv’s nine districts sustained damage in the attacks. Multi-story apartment buildings, private homes, office premises, a dental clinic, café and church were affected. The facades, roofs, windows and cars were not.
Russia launched 54 attacks against Kharkiv in the past week, injuring 48 people, including five children, the city’s mayor said. Russian forces mostly used Shakhed drones, FPV and jet-powered drones in the attack.
The Kharkiv Art Museum also sustained damage. It was ideated by architect Oleksiy Beketov and constructed in the 1930s. “It was designed as part of the early 20th century,” he said.
The strike set the museum’s roof and attic ablaze. The water used to extinguish the fires penetrated the exposition halls, Terekhov said.
“It was dangerous to work on the site. [The building] risked to collapse. Sounds of an air raid alert never stopped. Rescue and museum workers, journalists (…) tried to save whatever they could,” Terekhov said.
Graphic and contemporary art from private collections were damaged, he added.
Last week, an air raid alert was declared 64 times and lasted 93 hours in total in Kharkiv. The number is 37 per cent less than around the globe.
Russian aerial attack damages historic organ hall in Dnipro
A major Russian aerial attack against Ukraine overnight on Monday damaged the Organ and Chamber Music Hall in the city of Dnipro. The organ itself sustained damage, director of the musical venue, Anton Cherneta, told Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne.
The organ was built by Germany’s Sauer company. Only the company’s experts are able to assess the damage and say how quickly it could be repaired, Cherneta said.
“Unlike other instruments, an organ is hard to restore. [We’ll] need money and experts who built it. That’s the German, Frankfurt-based Sauer company. We’ll know later if there is serious damage inside [the instrument] and how long it will take them to repair it,” he said.
Windows and doors have been blown off the hall. The damage made it unsuitable for use. The hall is inside the Saint Nicholas Church that belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It was constructed in the early 20th century, and an organ was installed there in 1985. The first concert season took place in 1987.
“It is a national heritage site, it needs to be restored. A dome, gold-plated metal roof tiles and historic stained glass windows were damaged. The stained glass windows were almost entirely destroyed,” Cherneta said.
According to the head of the department for protection of cultural heritage of the Dnipro city council Nadiya Lyshtva, it is difficult to immediately assess all damage and the scope of renovation works, because the damage is massive. The building needs to be examined by engineers, she said.
“Emergency works will need to precede restoration. The stained glass windows from the 1980s and the furniture were damaged. They were not mass produced. They were custom-made [for the hall] during the previous renovation. Even the roofing of the bell tower was damaged, it has large cracks,” Lyshta said.