For more than four years now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has resorted to punishing airstrikes targeting hospitals, apartment buildings, street markets, and other civilian infrastructure in a failed effort to break the will of the Ukrainian people.On the evening of June 14, Russia launched another massive overnight attack on Ukraine. But in a dastardly escalation, Putin added a new set of targets — some of Ukraine’s most revered religious and cultural sites. Including the gold onion-domed Pechersk monastery, which dates back to the 11th century.“This is one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X. “This is how Russia shows the world its intention to continue the war.”
With his ground offensive stopped cold by Ukraine’s impregnable “drone wall,” and with Ukraine also cutting supply lines to occupied Crimea with its advanced drone technology, punishing airstrikes are Putin’s only viable military option.Fire-destroyed frescoes of Orthodox saints are visible on one of the domes of the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) on June 17, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The cathedral was damaged in a Russian drone strike on June 15. (Andriy Zhyhaylo/Oboz.ua/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
