By admin 
Russia struck one of Eastern Orthodox Christianity’s oldest and most revered monasteries early Monday, setting fire to the golden-domed Dormition Cathedral hours before world leaders gather at the G7 summit to discuss ending the war.
Read more Army sergeant in a coma after motorcycle crash on Interstate 8 near Gila Bend
Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s biggest cities overnight, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than two dozen others in the capital alone. The attacks struck Kyiv and the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
Five rescue workers were among the dead, killed in Kharkiv when a second Russian strike hit the site of an earlier attack as crews fought that blaze. The barrage knocked out power to roughly 140,000 households in northern Kyiv, the city’s mayor said.
RELATED STORY | Trump holds phone calls with Putin and Zelenskyy on his 80th birthday
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in the 11th century, a sprawling complex of monasteries and underground churches connected by a labyrinth of caves stretching more than 2,000 feet. UNESCO has described the complex as a masterpiece of Ukrainian art, and relics of saints have been buried in its caves for centuries.
Smoke billowed around the cathedral’s golden domes as its roof caught fire during the attack.
Read more Mesa officer involved in Loop 202 crash during vehicle pursuit
By morning, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko were at the site, surveying the damage. Zelenskyy said the fire was caused by two Russian drones and called the strike one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date. He urged the international community to respond swiftly and meaningfully ahead of the G7 summit.
RELATED STORY | UK intercepts Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker for first time
Russia’s defense ministry said it had struck defense-industrial targets in Kyiv, Kharkiv and the Dnipropetrovsk region, and did not directly address the damage to the monastery.
The timing punctuates Zelenskyy’s message to the world: Russia has no interest in peace.
The attack landed less than 24 hours after Putin and Trump spoke separately by phone with Zelenskyy on Sunday. The exchange suggested Washington has not given up on diplomatic efforts to end a war that has dragged on since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, Russia has destroyed more than 338,000 pieces of civilian infrastructure across the country, according to Ukrainian figures cited by officials.
Now the G7’s leading democracies are gathering in Évian-les-Bains, France, with Ukraine high on Tuesday’s agenda and Zelenskyy set to take part in a working session on the war. He will arrive with images of a burning cathedral, more dead in his capital, and a fresh reminder of how far apart Moscow and Kyiv remain.
Read more Oil prices hit three-month lows on US-Iran agreement
The bells at the Lavra rang again Monday morning. Ukraine needed to hear that.