SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Russia launched multiple waves of airstrikes on Sunday and Monday across Ukraine. At least 11 people were killed. Cultural and religious landmarks were also damaged, including a cathedral within a UNESCO World Heritage monastery complex. The attacks have drawn condemnation and renewed calls for greater international pressure over the destruction of cultural heritage. Hanna Palamarenko reports from Kyiv.
(SOUNDBITE OF MISSILE STRIKES)
HANNA PALAMARENKO, BYLINE: Kyiv residents are used to being awakened by Russian missiles and drones, but the barrage over the past 24 hours struck more than the city itself.
(SOUNDBITE OF MISSILE STRIKES)
PALAMARENKO: On early Monday morning, a drone hit the roof of the Dormition Cathedral at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery, one of Ukraine's most important religious and cultural landmarks and a UNESCO Heritage site.
MAKSYM OSTAPENKO: (Non-English language spoken).
PALAMARENKO: Maksym Ostapenko, director general of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, filmed the cathedral engulfed in flames in the immediate aftermath of the strike.
OSTAPENKO: (Non-English language spoken).
PALAMARENKO: "The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is nearly 1,000 years old. This is a cradle of Ukrainian science, medicine and the arts," Ostapenko explains, and the center from which Christianity spread across much of Eurasia, all the way to the Pacific.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER DRIPPING)
PALAMARENKO: Inside the cathedral, it's dark and smells of incense mixed with burnt wood. Water used by firefighters to extinguish the blaze runs down the walls adorned with frescoes and gilding that are hundreds of years old.
(SOUNDBITE OF ECHOING FOOTSTEPS)
PALAMARENKO: But the most extensive damage is visible when you climb up to the dome of the cathedral itself.
(SOUNDBITE OF WOOD SNAPPING)
PALAMARENKO: The state emergency service is dismantling the burnt wooden structures of the dome. The strike also caused significant damage to the exterior of the Dormition Cathedral.
AVRAAMIY: (Non-English language spoken).
PALAMARENKO: Bishop Avraamiy, the vicar of the Dormition Cathedral, says this deliberate attack contradicts Christian principles and undermines the values Russia claims to uphold. Russia denied deliberately hitting the monastery complex, saying it was damaged by U.S.-made patriot air defense systems. Ostapenko says that the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and the Dormition Cathedral have endured destruction before.
OSTAPENKO: (Non-English language spoken).
PALAMARENKO: "This is our phoenix," he says, "which has always risen from the ashes."
Hanna Palamarenko, NPR News, Kyiv.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
