Ukraine and Russia give different explanations for strike on Lavra

Firefighting efforts on the roof of the Lavra’s Dormition Cathedral. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

The Ukrainian side and Russia’s Defense Ministry offered different explanations for what caused damage to the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra during Russia’s overnight strike.

Kyiv insists that the cathedral was damaged by a drone. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated this during a meeting with journalists at the Lavra.

“As you can see, not all drones were shot down. The roof of the cathedral was partially destroyed by a drone,” he said.

Maksym Ostapenko, head of the Lavra Reserve, also spoke of a drone strike. According to him, the impact hit the central part of the cathedral, after which a large-scale fire broke out, covering about 800 square meters.

The SBU stated that the strike was carried out by a Geran-2 unmanned aerial vehicle and showed photographs of a UAV that it says was found at the impact site.

Russia’s Defense Ministry offered a different explanation for the damage to the Dormition Cathedral. According to the Russian ministry, the strike on the cathedral was allegedly caused by a faulty missile from a Ukrainian Patriot air defense system. Moscow described the overnight strike itself as a massive attack on defense industry facilities. At the same time, experts have expressed doubts that the nature of the church’s damage matches a missile strike.

The Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the UOC commented on the strike on the Dormition Cathedral.

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