Following a massive overnight aerial assault on Kyiv and Kharkiv that left nine dead and 30 injured, Russian forces struck the historic UNESCO-listed Pechersk Lavra monastery, prompting sharp international condemnation. <\/p>\n
In the early hours of Monday, Russian forces conducted an intense four-hour aerial bombardment of Kyiv. A drone strike ignited a fire at the Pechersk Lavra monastery, a symbol of Ukrainian religious history and a UNESCO World Heritage site, destroying approximately 800 square meters of the roof of the Dormition Cathedral. Monastery officials confirmed that icons and other valuable artifacts were successfully saved.<\/p>\n
Simultaneously, Kharkiv was targeted in the same wave of attacks. Ukrainian authorities reported that the overnight strikes resulted in the deaths of at least nine people, with approximately 30 others sustaining injuries.<\/p>\n
Polish Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski, attending a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, relayed a dramatic account of the “bloody strike” from his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrij Sybiha. Sikorski noted that the 11th-century monastery was a world-class monument, remarking, “In the 11th century, where Moscow is today, there was only forest. Perhaps Putin doesn’t like that.”<\/p>\n
The minister stated that he hopes those who believed Russia was a defender of Christian tradition will now change their minds after witnessing a KGB colonel attack one of Europe’s oldest churches. Sikorski argued that Putin\u2019s brutality against civilians intensifies as he struggles on the front lines, and emphasized that Europe must increase its support for Ukraine, particularly regarding air defense ammunition.<\/p>\n
Sikorski also noted the timing of the strike, which followed a conversation between Putin and Donald Trump, suggesting that the Russian leader has no intention of pursuing peace or a ceasefire. The Polish Foreign Ministry issued a statement confirming that the spirit of Ukraine’s defenders remains unbroken despite the aggression against civilians and cultural heritage.<\/p>\n
International leaders, including Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, condemned the attack and pledged to discuss further pressure on Russia with G7 leaders. The French Foreign Minister compared the destruction to the bombing of Notre-Dame, while the Lithuanian foreign minister called for the rapid adoption of a 21st package of sanctions against Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following a massive overnight aerial assault on Kyiv and Kharkiv that left nine dead and 30 injured, Russian forces struck the historic UNESCO-listed Pechersk Lavra monastery, prompting sharp international condemnation. The Assault on Kyiv and Kharkiv In the early hours of Monday, Russian forces conducted an intense four-hour aerial bombardment of Kyiv. A drone strike […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense-and-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}